Washington, D.C. — Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr. announced today that his district would receive more than $3 million in subsidies to support three critical low-income family, disabled and senior housing projects. The funds would come from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and the projects are located in South Orange, Jersey City and Newark.
Congressman Payne, Jr. said he was excited about the grants because housing is one of his key legislative priorities in Congress.

“These projects are important to our community because they provide quality housing to the people that need it the most,” said Congressman Payne, Jr. “I am working with colleagues here in Congress to find more ways to provide funds for more affordable housing projects. For example, I co-sponsored the Build More Housing Near Transit Act because it would provide funds for similar projects near transit stations. We have a serious low-income housing problem in this country and I want to thank the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York for choosing to fund these projects.”

The projects are the Al Gomer/ South Orange B’nai B’rith project, which would rehabilitate an existing 65-unit apartment building for low-income seniors; Bergenview Apartments in Jersey City, which would build a new 111-unit supportive housing facility for physically and mentally disabled, homeless to low-income tenants; and the Somerset Brownstones project in Newark, which would consist of a new 60-unit building for very low to low-income families.

These grants are part of the Federal Home Loan Bank’s responsibility to provide 10 percent of each bank’s profits to fund housing projects in local communities. There are 11 Federal Home Loan Banks across the country and they work with local and national banks, insurance companies, and other lending institutions to provide additional finances for such developments.

Congressman Payne, Jr. said he hoped these projects would encourage more developers to create similar projects across his district.

“As a nation, we need to take better care of our most vulnerable populations,” said Congressman Payne, Jr. “These projects are a good example of the importance of quality housing to those communities. I hope more banks and other financial institutions follow the lead of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and support more low-income housing developments in the future.”

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