NJ Protesters Decry Poverty, Lack Of Housing At MTV Awards In Newark

NEWARK, NJ — The MTV Music Video Awards drew a big crowd of stars, entertainers and news media when it came to Newark last weekend. And like it did in 2019, the gala also drew activists seeking change in their home city.

A star-studded lineup of the biggest names in the music industry made a trip to New Jersey on Sunday for the 2022 VMA awards, which were held at the Prudential Center. Read More: MTV Comes To Jersey (Watch Highlights From Video Music Awards)

Some members of a new group, Newarkers Against Poverty, also showed up at the award ceremony – but with plans to protest, not party (watch the video below).

“The MTV awards are happening again in Newark – but what’s in it for us Newarkers?” questioned one of the group’s lead organizers, Munirah El-Bomani.

According to El-Bomani, protesters planned to meet at Mulberry Common Park, but ended up at Market and Mulberry Street due to the placement of police barricades erected for the award ceremony. Leveraging the event as a platform to get exposure, a handful of activists called for action on issues such as poverty, unemployment, police brutality and crime, in addition to “structural racism and inequality taking place in Newark and in the County of Essex.”

One of the biggest issues Newark needs to deal with? Housing, she said.

“With millions of dollars pouring into the city of Newark to help assist the chronically homeless yearly, along with the millions allocated from the Trump administration and now Biden’s American Recovery Act, why is the City of Newark still struggling to eradicate our homeless and low-income housing crisis?” El-Bomani asked Patch.

El-Bomani pointed to a 2021 report from the Rutgers Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity (CLIME), which found a “severe gap” in low-rent housing units in Newark. More than 16,000 units at about $750 per month are needed in the city, the study said.

Accoriding to CLIME researchers, part of the problem is that a large chunk of apartments and rental housing in the city – as much as half – is owned by corporations. The result? Rapidly rising rents, lower homeownership rates and “housing instability” for low- and moderate-income people in Newark. Read More: Who Owns Newark? City Fights Back Against Corporate Home Buying Spree

Newark officials have said they’re aware of the problem, and that they haven’t been sitting on their hands waiting for a solution. According to a previous statement from the office of Mayor Ras Baraka last year, here are some of the ways the city has tried to increase affordable housing and home ownership over the past few years:

• "Doubling the Live Newark Program to help residents become first-time homebuyers." Read More: Newark Trying To Boost Housing Market With No-Interest Loans
• "Implemented the Neighborhood Development Program, which turns city-owned land into residential and affordable housing." Read More: Newark Vs. Gentrification: We Can't Become Brooklyn, Mayor Says
• "Allocated a $20 million investment to create housing affordable to residents at a $34,000 income level." Read More: Newark Trying To Add Housing For Low-Income Families
• "Using Land Bank properties to create Section 8 homeownership opportunities." Read More: Newark Families Get Keys To Their 1st Homes: 'My Dream Came True'
• "Created the NJ Forty Acres and a Mule Fund (NJ FAM Fund) that will invest $100 million into real estate development and small business development for Black and Latinx partners." Read More: Newark Makes Bold, $100M Pledge To Black, Latinx Business Owners

In August 2021, Baraka announced that the city hopes to create or preserve 6,600 units of affordable housing through a new, five-year plan.

“An equitable city is built on the foundation of affordability,” the mayor said. “Our new housing goals and the actions outlined to achieve them will help us ensure all Newark residents have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing and that our city continues to be a vibrant gateway to opportunity for all – regardless of income, race, ethnicity or immigration status.”

• See related article: Long-Awaited Newark Apartments Will Be 100% Affordable Housing
• See related article: Newark 'Land Bank' Hopes To Boost Homeownership, Beat Blight

But according to El-Bomani, it’s not nearly enough.

The activist pointed to the 2021 Point-in-Time count of homeless residents in New Jersey, which tallied 1,693 people experiencing homelessness in Essex County. About 85.9 percent of those people live in Newark, advocates said. Read More: Essex County Still Has The Most Homeless People In New Jersey

“The city of Newark hasn’t even scratched the surface on housing that meets the needs of its homeless population and low-income residents,” she said. “Instead of building housing for this population, the city of Newark is building high market rate units on public housing land like BaxterPark1, formerly known as Baxter Terrace, with the same plan for other public land such as Terrell Homes and Seth Boyden to name a few.”

• See related article: Cheers In Newark As Demolition At Seth Boyden Complex Begins

“I’m asking folks to join me, in calling on the newly appointed HUD director to step in and do a thorough investigation of all the homeless and housing funding that was allocated to address the homeless and housing crisis here in Newark,” El-Bomani said.

“We need housing for all levels of income, and not just for outsiders and the wealthy,” she urged.

CLEAN WATER

MTV set a milestone for itself in 2019, when it brought the VMAs to Newark – and New Jersey – for the first time.

While the event saw widespread fanfare, it was also the site of a protest for "clean water," spearheaded by local residents fed up over the city's lead water crisis. Read More: Protest For Clean Water Ignites Outside MTV Awards In Newark

The city has since made major progress on that front, with Vice President Kamala Harris coming to Newark in February to praise its progress combatting the contamination. Read More: Lead Pipes And Newark; Kamala Harris Returns To NJ To Praise City

But just like the city’s housing issues, clean water is something that residents need to keep fighting for, El-Bomani said.

Despite the city’s remediation efforts on the lead front, discolored water continues to be reported and water main breaks are happening all across Newark, he said. Read More: Water Main Break Near Prudential HQ Is Newark's Third In 1 Month

“With the money being allocated to Newark Water Department, we the people are asking for data, independent oversight and an audit to see if there is mismanagement, wasteful spending and fraud taking place in our water department,” El-Bomani said.

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