The statehouse authority on housing, state Senator Troy Singleton (D-7) applauded Gov. Mikie Sherrill's plan unveiled this week to create more affordable housing in New Jersey.

At her affordability housing conference in Atlantic City, Sherrill said she wants to build 20K to 40K homes on state land, toward a goal of 350K more housing units to keep pace with growth.

"A bold initiative," Singleton told InsiderNJ.  "When you have the most powerful person in state government... making this a priority, it puts a shining spotlight on this critical need."

The work ahead for the legislature will be arduous as Singleton takes the lead.

"The real work will be taking these concepts and moving them to concrete action as we have really thoughtful dialogue with our friends in the state to figure out how to make this work," said the Burlington-based senator, who wants to focus too on more work force housing.

"The governor laid it out - this is the goal we have to get to," he added. "She stated the problem, laid a marker down. That's what a good leader does."

Singleton acknowledged the multi-pronged challenge for New Jersey of not only creating more housing but creating greater community affordability.

"From the property tax perspective, the governor is looking at controlling our healthcare drivers for schools, the largest part of property taxes," Singleton said. "Getting a hold of the escalating cost of healthcare would lower school taxes and the governor is looking at it in a lot of different ways."

The state, the senator acknowledged, must also consider, of course, macroeconomic factors like the wars in Iran and Ukraine, which create additional challenges, especially as Sherrill too considers ways to augment the state's energy grid.