Housing Blogs & Reports

  • Summer Intern Presentations
  • 2023 NJSPL Summer Interns - Sofia Wernyj, Jesskomar Velarde Gargot, Maia Hill, Ciera Gaither, Xiao Liang, Taylor Hughes, Christopher Gomes, and Anisaa Jean-Pierre
  • 2023 NJSPL Summer Internship Program - Josephine O'Grady, Jesskomar Velarde Gargot, Sofia Wernyj, Dr. Elizabeth Cooner, Maia Hill, Ciera Gaither, Xiao Liang, Taylor Hughes, Christopher Gomes, Anisaa Jean-Pierre, and Molly Basdeo Mountjoy

New Jersey State Policy Lab Summer Internship Summit

August 18th, 2023|Comments Off on New Jersey State Policy Lab Summer Internship Summit

The New Jersey State Policy Lab held the 2023 Summer Internship presentations at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy on August 17, 2023. The eight summer interns each presented [...]

  • NJ Education & Tax Rates

Property Tax Rates and Quality of K-12 Education in New Jersey Communities

January 17th, 2023|Comments Off on Property Tax Rates and Quality of K-12 Education in New Jersey Communities

by James Barnett New Jersey is consistent in featuring at the top of the ranks for two different variables: effective real estate property tax rates and quality of K-12 education services.[1][2] These, unsurprisingly to most [...]

  • New Jersey MOD Database

Introducing the New Jersey MOD IV Historical Database

January 9th, 2023|Comments Off on Introducing the New Jersey MOD IV Historical Database

By Marc Pfeiffer and Lucas Marxen The NJ MOD IV Historical Database is an online, searchable database of New Jersey MOD IV parcel information data sets from 1989 to 2022.  Providing land parcel and property [...]

  • Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP)

Heat or Eat? The Low-Income Home Energy Distribution Program (LIHEAP) and Its Implications for New Jersey

November 17th, 2022|Comments Off on Heat or Eat? The Low-Income Home Energy Distribution Program (LIHEAP) and Its Implications for New Jersey

By Josephine O'Grady. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance program (LIHEAP) is a federal block grant program that assists low-income families with the cost of paying their utility bills in areas including extreme heat and cold, household revisions to improve energy efficiency [...]

Report Release: Does the Decision to Allow Local Cannabis-Related Businesses Impact Home Sale Prices?

September 1st, 2022|Comments Off on Report Release: Does the Decision to Allow Local Cannabis-Related Businesses Impact Home Sale Prices?

By Michael S. Hayes, Associate Professor, Rutgers University-Camden and Prakash Kandel, Ph.D. Student, Rutgers University-Camden. During the 2020 general election, New Jersey voters approved a ballot question to amend the state constitution to allow residents [...]

Housing Affordability in New Jersey, 2010-2020

July 11th, 2022|Comments Off on Housing Affordability in New Jersey, 2010-2020

by Maia de la Calle. Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/ECON™) Housing affordability and ownership accessibility The main expense incurred by New Jersey’s residents is shelter or housing.  As of 2019, New Jersey ranked third in [...]

The Revival of Urban Enterprise Zones in New Jersey

May 26th, 2022|Comments Off on The Revival of Urban Enterprise Zones in New Jersey

By Adam Scavette Last summer, then acting New Jersey Governor Sheila Oliver signed legislation to devote $42.5 million toward restoring the state’s Urban Enterprise Zones (UEZ) to full operation for fiscal year 2022. In this [...]

  • Dutch colonial house

New Jersey’s Single-Family Housing Markets by County 2021

March 31st, 2022|Comments Off on New Jersey’s Single-Family Housing Markets by County 2021

Naheed Azhar and Michael L. Lahr, Rutgers Economic Advisory Service (R/Econ™) As the count of listings and asking prices flattened,[i] realtors and creditors predicted a rise in foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies as people were laid [...]

  • Rent relief sign and almost empty jar with money.

Report Release: The New Jersey Housing Crisis in a COVID Era

February 24th, 2022|Comments Off on Report Release: The New Jersey Housing Crisis in a COVID Era

By Katharine Nelson. Affordable housing is increasingly scarce within the United States, and COVID-19 has dramatically exacerbated the simmering crisis in affordable housing. In New Jersey, the risk of eviction is greater than across the country [...]

  • New Jersey Magnified

Our First Report: Encouraging Activation of Vacant Commercial Properties

February 11th, 2022|Comments Off on Our First Report: Encouraging Activation of Vacant Commercial Properties

The New Jersey State Policy Lab is publishing our first report, Vacant Commercial Property in New Jersey: Causes and Solutions, written by Michael Hayes and Pengju Zhang. The economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase in vacant [...]

A Primer on Housing Markets with a Bird’s Eye View on New Jersey’s

January 11th, 2022|Comments Off on A Primer on Housing Markets with a Bird’s Eye View on New Jersey’s

By Michael L. Lahr, R/ECON™ Housing markets are not just geographically separated, they are socially stratified too (in combination the two generate what is termed, “housing market segmentation”). Properties in a region can differ radically [...]

  • Old Buildings in the Historic Downtown of Jersey City with Modern Skyscrapers in the background

Vacant Commercial Property in New Jersey: Causes and Solutions

January 6th, 2022|Comments Off on Vacant Commercial Property in New Jersey: Causes and Solutions

Michael S. Hayes and Pengju Zhang The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated changes in investment decisions throughout the economy. For example, the growth in virtual work and e-commerce has likely negatively impacted the demand for some [...]

  • An American flag hanging outside a row of old beautiful red brick homes in the Hamilton Park neighborhood of Jersey City New Jersey

The New Jersey Housing Crisis in a COVID Era – Project Update

November 5th, 2021|Comments Off on The New Jersey Housing Crisis in a COVID Era – Project Update

Samantha Roth  Samantha Roth is a Master of Public Administration Student at the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark. She is a research assistant with support from the New Jersey Policy Lab [...]