BLOOMFIELD - Yes, Mikie Sherrill says, politicians have been talking for years about how unaffordable New Jersey is.

But ... "nothing seems to change in New Jersey and I've had enough."

So, on Monday, Sherrill visited a firehouse in this city to announce her "Affordability Agenda."

Asked how her plan differs from what some of the other gubernatorial candidates have announced, Sherrill said, "I think there's some real innovation here."

She referred to investing in solar - "one of the cheapest energy sources to develop," independent auditing and repurposing old commercial sites to build needed housing,

She said the Mt. Laurel decision, which ended exclusionary zoning and mandated the construction of affordable homes, was 50 years ago and the problem remains.

Sherrill presented comments from individuals impacted by New Jersey's high costs, including a firefighter and a union laborer who talked about how hard it is to buy a home in New Jersey.

She broke her plan down into a number of areas.

Regarding housing, she wants to streamline the approval process, which is basically controlled by municipalities, expand first-time homebuyer assistance and crack down on "predatory investors."

On health care, a local pharmacist spoke about Pharmacy Benefit Managers or PBMs, - "middlemen"  - who he said inflate prices under the guise of doing the opposite. The congresswoman wants to make PBMs pass discounts onto consumers and to force insurance companies to publicly disclose and to justify premium increases.

She also wants to go after price gouging and monopolies - no matter if the offender is a health insurer or a food provider. She also said the state needs to do more to support farms and farmland preservation.

Property taxes have been a major state problem for decades.

One reason why property taxes are so high is New Jersey's status as a home rule state with more than 500 municipalities and school districts.

Does the state have too many towns and school districts? Would consolidating some of them lead to savings?

Sherrill didn't go there.

She spoke of unlocking the "potential of shared services" for towns and school districts.

Candidly speaking, shared services have been spoken about for years. An obstacle often are local officials, who are far too impressed with the power they have over local domains.

More generally, she said costs can be reduced for families by expanding the child tax credit and working with schools and private companies to expand child care opportunities.

Of the six-person Democratic field, Steve Fulop has detailed policy proposals on his webpage.

Josh Gottheimer, one of Sherrill's fellow House members, previously unveiled an affordability plan, some parts of which are similar to what Sherrill proposed today.

Sherrill was asked about the other end of the fiscal scale. Would she support increasing revenue by, say, raising the millionaires' tax, which sits at 10.75 percent?

She answered by stressing aspects of her cost reduction plan.