Government

Jersey City's Innovative New Affordable Housing Plan Might Actually Work

The city wants to steer mixed-income development to all its neighborhoods with clever tax incentives.
Renderings of Jersey City's Montgomery Gardens mixed housing plan. This project didn't benefit from the city's PILOT program, but it's an example of the city's vision of mixed-income development.Jersey City Mayor's Office

“Jersey City is really blowing up.” That’s a common refrain among people living in and around New Jersey’s second-largest city.

The historically industrial area has come a long way from the 1960s and 1970s, when jobs, residents, and investment began to disappear. The city has since repackaged itself as the cheaper, homier alternative to Manhattan and Brooklyn. Today it has young and diverse residents, many of whom work in New York, a short train ride away. By living on the Jersey side of the Hudson they avoid those high New York state income taxes.