Study shows the benefits of affordable housing: Opinion

A young resident plays at Ethel R. Lawrence Homes, an affordable housing complex in Mount Laurel that has been praised as “a model for promoting greater integration and a pathway out of poverty for disadvantaged minority families throughout the United States.” (2012 file photo)

 

By Howard Gillette Jr.

Affordable housing, and particularly the Mount Laurel doctrine that mandates that every municipality in New Jersey has an obligation to provide its “fair share” of affordable housing, is under attack.

While Gov. Chris Christie has been rebuffed by the courts in his effort to eliminate by executive order the Council on Affordable Housing established by the Legislature to implement the Mount Laurel decisions, he has often stated his intent to change the makeup of the high court in order to get his way.

Please visit: 
https://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2013/12/study_shows_the_benefits_of_af.html to read the entire article.

Concentration of Poverty in the New Millennium, authored by TCF fellow and CURE director Paul A. Jargowsky, is the first to compare the 2000 census data with the 2007-11 American Community Survey (ACS), revealing the extent to which concentrated poverty has returned to, and in some ways exceeded, the previous peak level in 1990.

The Century Foundation released the report today.  To read the full report, please visit: Concentration_of_Poverty_in_the_New_Millennium.

The latest issue of the Journal of Urban Affairs (Volume 35, Number 5, 2013) features a book review by center director Paul Jargowsky of The Ghetto: Contemporary Global Issue and Controversies by Ray Hutchinson and Bruce D. Haynes (Eds.)

Excerpt

What’s in a word? Quite a lot, apparently, if the word is ghetto and the question is being asked of urban sociologists. Debate has raged for decades over the domain of the term, the implications of referring to a place as a ghetto, and the relationship between American ghettos and analogous neighborhoods in the rest of the world. The Ghetto: Contemporary Global Issues and Controversies, edited by Ray Hutchison and Bruce D. Haynes, is a useful attempt to collect a variety of perspectives on the conceptual content and usefulness of the term within urban sociology. Hutchison describes the evolution of the term from its origins in Europe to its use in contemporary urban scholarship.  

For the full review, please click here.

A recent Rolling Stone article declaring Camden, NJ “apocalyptic” and “ruined” lacks a fuller picture of Camden and its residents, according to CURE affiliated scholar Stephen Danley who suggests the Rolling Stone article on Camden is “Poverty Porn”.  His editorial appeared in Philadelphia Magazine on December 12, 2013.

If you could do anything to change South Jersey for the better, what would it be?

“First and foremost, South Jersey cities and counties need to overcome the governmental fragmentation that gets in the way of regional solutions to regional problems. The state is in desperate need of a comprehensive, efficient and integrated public transportation system that connects lower-income workers to employment centers, colleges and training opportunities. Better transportation would help workers and businesses, make the state more competitive, and remove cars from our overly congested roads.” 
—Paul Jargowsky, Ph.D., Professor of Public Policy, and Director, Center for Urban Research and Education, Rutgers University – Camden

You can view the full article at: https://site.southjerseymagazine.com/articles/?articleid=1047