City Projects Highlighted on Affordable Housing Tour

The Housing and Community Development Network of NJ and the Union County Advocacy Team hosted an affordable housing showcase bus tour Tuesday which included two stops in Summit.

The Vito A. Gallo Senior Citizen Complex and the Summit Affordable Housing Corporation/Morris Habitat for Humanity Interfaith Community Build project were the first two stops on Tuesday's tour of developers, non-profit leaders, elected officials and concerned citizens.

"When you think of Summit you really don't think about affordable housing," Mayor Jordan Glatt said before the tour. "Somone from outside Summit really doesn't think that we have a large amount of affordable housing. However we have a long and proud history in Summit."

The Senior Citizen Complex, 12 Chestut Avenue, was opened in 1986 and is currently a five-story H-shaped building with 125 one and two bedroom units.

Vito Gallo, who was executive director of the Summit Housing Authority at the time the project was built, said it took 12 years to complete due to opposition, hence the number for the complex: 12.

It was shown on the tour Tuesday not only because of some of the unique features is has as an affordable housing complex, such as a facility nurse, social worker, and an onsight coffeehouse currently out to bid for public use, but also because it has a more than 5 year waiting list for non-residents wishing to live there.

Lou Ricco, executive director of the Summit Housing Authority, said if nothing else, this waiting list exemplifies the need for more affordable housing in Summit.

"Here in New Jersey, there are lots of McMansions and not a lot of starter homes," said Annmarie Uebbing, board member of the Housing and Community Development Network of NJ.

Gallo also presented some statistical information on housing prices in Summit. He said there are abut 2,000 renters in Summit, some 26 percent of the households. About 34 percent of those renters pay more than 35 percent of their income in rent.

"Even here in a well-to-do community, renters are having trouble keeping a roof over their head," he said.

Additionally, 24 percent of the residents in Summit collect Social Security, averaging $18,000 a year. Equating it another way, Gallo said one in every four people in Summit is retired.

Gallo also presented foreclosure statistics compiled by Professor Kathy Newman at Rutgers University which shows Summit had 26 filings in 2007, 21 in 2008 and 12 so far in 2009.

"Housing is not like any other commodity," Gallo said."Everybody needs a roof over their head. It's the single largest expense that any of us have."