Hoboken City Council Candidate Cheryl Fallick Says We Can No Longer Ignore Housing Insecurities in Hoboken
Hoboken City Council Candidate Cheryl Fallick Says
We Can No Longer Ignore Housing Insecurities in Hoboken
Calls for Mayor Bhalla to Immediately Restore the Rent Leveling Office
HOBOKEN, NJ – Many know Cheryl Fallick, a candidate in November’s City Council At-Large election on the Independently Together slate, as the longest standing advocate for housing justice in Hoboken, but less known is that her roots in Hoboken activism started over three decades ago protecting Hoboken’s waterfront. Over the years, she has been a mainstay at City Council meetings lobbying on many additional critical issues with long lasting implications on the quality of life for Hoboken’s residents such as overdevelopment, open space, and infrastructure. With funding already appropriated by the City Council in 2021, Ms. Fallick is calling for the mayor to do the right thing for Hoboken residents with housing insecurities and immediately restore the rent leveling office he defunded last year.
“Housing insecurities have gone unaddressed for too long in Hoboken and we are at risk of losing all of our economic diversity. Rent control and affordable housing laws are both controversial topics. I know that. One less dollar paid in rent is one less dollar received in rent.” says Cheryl Fallick, Hoboken At-Large Council Candidate. “But most don’t realize that without our laws, Hoboken would not be affordable for most residents, not just those on the lower end of the income scale.”
Cheryl has always given her voice to issues and people that need one and once elected to the City Council, she will ensure that affordability issues will be a priority for the first time since Mayor Vezzetti was in office in the 1980’s.
Cheryl’s plan to address housing affordability. Housing insecurities are not something heard from Hoboken’s governing body other than the same platitude references during elections to building “affordable housing”. But housing concerns are real, and they effect people of all backgrounds, ages and income levels. The threat of someone’s housing costs rising dramatically in any year or being told they have to move because their home was being sold is disruptive and unsettling to anyone who experiences it. Approximately two-thirds of Hoboken residents are renters in homes that range from brownstones to walk-ups and everything in between. And they all face this risk every day. Hoboken’s beautiful waterfront and access to New York City increases the demand for housing, which increases pricing, which increases housing insecurities and the threat of being displaced from your home. Because of this, Hoboken must put resources towards affordability.
Cheryl’s plan to address housing insecurities centers around making policies and programs relating to affordability the priority that it isn’t today. The components of Cheryl’s plan include:
Protect stabilized rents to minimize quality of life disruptions and the threat of displacement:
- Reverse the current administration’s defunding of our rent leveling and stabilization office; the City Council funded this in the 2021 Municipal Budget but the mayor’s office has yet to act.
- Insist that we get an accurate inventory of all rent protected properties, which are most, in the City of Hoboken.
- Improve transparency for tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities and our laws so that outcomes for both can be more predictable.
- Move rent leveling records and operations online and into the 21st century.
- Continue to fund and collaborate regularly with Hoboken’s tenant advocate to support Hoboken residents facing displacement and identify challenges that can be addressed through legislation.
Make available and accessible more affordable housing options:
- Ensure wait listing and tenant selection are fair and open processes to improve access for Hoboken residents for new and existing affordable housing.
- Increase the required percentage of affordable units within larger future developments to 20% (currently 10%).
- Partner with local property owners and developers to identify programs to build more and retain existing affordable housing.
- Safeguard the residents in affordable complexes when existing affordable controls expire (e. g. Marine View Plaza and Church Towers).
- Develop a funding source to rehabilitate, preserve and/or build affordable housing.
- Expand opportunities for seniors, people with disabilities and residents that need supportive housing.
- Push for the implementation of a Community Land Trust in Hoboken once and for all.
Provide Better Support for the residents of the Hoboken Housing Authority
- Take a more proactive role with the Hoboken Housing Authority’s renovation plan and prevent the displacement of any HHA during the project.
- Identify shared services opportunities with the HHA to help reduce costs and provide additional supportive services.
- Pledge to conduct broad outreach to find and appoint the best representatives for the HHA Board.
- Reject plans and policies that concentrate poverty in one corner of the city.
There is no voice in our local government that prioritizes or has the experience to address this critical issue impacting so many of our residents. All Hoboken residents need and deserve a City Council representative that has spent years researching ways to address housing affordability and who has been offering solutions to meet the need and stem our decades-long ongoing displacement. Cheryl Fallick will be an unwavering voice on the City Council who will ensure that housing insecurities in Hoboken will no longer be ignored.
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