On Monday, April 30th at 2:30PM “NJ HAND” will conduct a ceremony at the corner of Vine Street and Tower Street, and then will begin clearing the site for the first affordable housing development. The development is the first phase in many forthcoming projects along the Oak Street portion of the municipality which will eventually produce over 400 units of new affordable housing.

This long awaited first-step represents an aggressive local initiative by the Avreichim of Bais Medrash Govoha who with the active leadership of Rabbi Aaron Kotler and Rabbi Gedaliah Weinberger requested that Lakewood Township provide land to develop affordable housing opportunities on lands which were formally owned by the Township.

The initiative began four  years ago with then Mayor, and now present Mayor Ray Coles and subsequently with the leadership of former Mayor Meir Lichtenstein and Township Committee Members who wanted to assist persons who are low and moderate-income seeking affordable housing.

In a recent interview, Mayor Coles said “I am delighted to see the first shovel in the ground which I see as a dream come true for many people in Lakewood and The State of New Jersey who are desperate for affordable housing. Brave and ambitious steps need to be taken, and we stepped up to the plate. I hope my counterparts in other Towns and County leaders can also do their part to help people find affordable housing in this very densely populated State where affordable housing is unreachable for a large amount of persons”.

When completed, a housing lottery will be held to choose from among qualified applicants. 

Rabbi Shmuel Lefkowitz, President of NJ Hand added his thoughts, “I am thrilled to see this project begin which is the culmination of lots of hard work by the NJ Hand Board and many people who saw the dream of affordable housing, this is now reality”.