Residents Continue To Question Homeless Apartment Building Coming To Woodbridge

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — The homeless apartment building coming to Hopelawn continues to be a hot topic of discussion.

The building was discussed for nearly half an hour at last week's Woodbridge Council meeting (May 5).

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It's located on Florida Grove Road at the intersection of New Brunswick Avenue. It is pictured above. The building was built by local real estate developer Ralph Mocci, who originally intended it to be market-rate apartment rentals, according to Tom Maras, a former site supervisor when the building was under construction.

However, the building will now be sold for $12 million, a price that was determined after the property was appraised. A coalition of various entities are putting up the money to purchase it: The Raritan Bay Area YMCA, Woodbridge Township, the city of Perth Amboy, Middlesex County and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs are all contributing money towards the $12-million purchase price, said Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac.

Specifically, Woodbridge is contributing $4.5 million towards the purchase, $3.8 million of which is coming from the town's Affordable Housing Trust Fund. That is a fund real estate developers are required to pay into every time they build in New Jersey. Towns can use the money as they see fit.

The sale has not gone through yet. The building does not yet have a certificate of occupancy from Woodbridge Township. It is still under construction and the builder has a "punch list" of items to complete before the sale can go through, said the mayor.

It will be a 28-unit apartment building, with 40 beds total. Each unit will have its own kitchen. It will be owned by the Raritan Bay Area YMCA, which will also manage it, and it will be run as a non-profit. The YMCA will not pay property taxes on the building because they are a non-profit.

The apartments are intended for people who need housing, such as people who are just released from Raritan Bay Medical Center and need housing. There will also be rooms set aside for emergency homeless situations, such as people who need housing after a fire or a flood. The building is not specifically intended for domestic violence victims, although that doesn't mean domestic violence victims could not be housed there, said the mayor.

McCormac said the plan is that everyone who lives there will have a lease.

"All 28 units and 40 beds will have a lease. Yes, you can evict them," he said.

Another resident, Paul Lund, who lives in Hopelawn, pressed the town for more information about the building.

"If it stays largely unoccupied, will that open the door to folks who weren't originally planning on being there?" Lund asked the town.

"There is absolutely not gonna be any threat we won't fill 28 apartments, between Woodbridge and Perth Amboy," McCormac replied to Lund's question. "We have no doubt. People frequently are released from (Raritan Bay Medical Center) with no place to go. Whether they're Woodbridge or Perth Amboy residents, again, it's unfathomable to think we will have space that's not filled by people who need the housing right away."

You can hear this all discussed at last week's Council meeting, starting at minute 5:30:

Prior: Woodbridge Mayor Gives More Info. About Homeless Apartment Building Coming To Hopelawn (April 23)