NJ-10 Candidate Imani Oakley Protests In D.C. For Eviction Ban

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — When Imani Oakley was a constituent advocate in the office of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, she helped people going through eviction and foreclosure. As a young adult, she experienced the stress associated with foreclosure when her family almost lost their home.

And when the national ban on evictions during the coronavirus pandemic expired, it really hit hard for the Congressional candidate, who now lives in Montclair.

Last weekend, Oakley, a longtime activist and progressive voice in North Jersey, was among those at a protest in Washington D.C. held to demand the extension of the now-expired federal moratorium on evictions.

Although New Jersey renters have extra protection due to a separate state moratorium that expires on Jan. 1, 2022, the move places millions of U.S. renters at risk of losing their homes.

A growing chorus of advocates and elected officials have pointed to recent data released by the Treasury Department, which shows that only $3 billion of nearly $47 billion allocated by Congress was provided to about 630,000 households by June 30 – less than 4 percent of the federal aid allotted.

• See related article: New Jersey Renters Fear Eviction As Federal Moratorium Ends

Oakley, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Donald Payne Jr. for the Democratic nomination in the 2022 primary election, said the state’s 10th Congressional District continues to rank very high nationally when it comes to foreclosure rates.

And now, it’s personal, she added.

“When my family almost lost our home to foreclosure, I experienced the stress it brought on my family,” Oakley said. “From experience, I know how scary it is to almost lose your home.”

Oakley elaborates on her housing platform on her campaign website:

“While housing foreclosure rates fall across the country, New Jersey continues to be the state with the highest rates of housing foreclosures. Here, 1 in every 75 homes faces foreclosure, and millions of our neighbors risk having their worlds turned upside down. And it’s not just homeowners struggling to get by. Whether you live in a studio or a four-bedroom apartment, New Jersey renters pay at least $200 more than the national average. In 2018, New Jersey was the sixth most unaffordable state in the nation. To afford a mere two-bedroom apartment, a person would have to make at least double the minimum wage.”

“Black and Brown residents in our district continue to lose their homes, wealth, legacies, and neighborhoods,” Oakley charges. “At the same time, developers partner with establishment politicians to enrich themselves by pricing us out of our communities.”

According to Oakley, there are several steps that federal lawmakers can take to create affordable housing and “bring justice to families”:

• Provide justice to those in our community — especially Black and Brown families — who have had their homes unfairly ripped away from them. I will introduce legislation for the Housing Crisis Survivors Program (HCSP) to give victims of predatory lending and other unethical banking practices low interest, zero down payment home loans so that they can regain their homes.
• Establish a zero-tolerance policy towards banks that sell mortgages on the "secondary market" and fail to notify homeowners of that sale properly.
• Require that loan payments remain precisely the same as before the transfer regardless of whether they are resold between banks or predatory debt buyers.
• Institute the National Black Veterans Family Initiative (NBVFI), which will allow direct descendants of Black World War II Veterans — who were denied housing benefits under the first GI Bill — to receive low interest, zero down payment home loans and start building generational wealth.
• Increase the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund from $800 million to $500 Billion and ensure that the fund adequately keeps up with inflation so that we can build high quality, affordable housing across the nation — especially in states like New Jersey— that low-income and working-class families can afford.
• Form the Livable Cities Fund, which will finance cities and large municipalities that agree to create community land trusts, establish rent caps, and ensure 50% affordable housing units in medium and large housing developments built after 2018.

The state's 10th Congressional District includes the following towns in Essex, Hudson and Union County: Bloomfield, East Orange, Glen Ridge, Irvington, Maplewood, Montclair, Newark, Orange, South Orange, West Orange, Bayonne, Jersey City, Hillside, Linden, Rahway, Roselle, Roselle Park, and Union Township.

• See related article: Essex County Has Most Homeless In NJ; Evictions Played A Big Role

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