The good news is there is widespread consensus across candidates on issues that are important to Better Blocks NJ’s urban vitality movement – more housing supply, greater transit investment, support for making streets friendlier for everyone, and protecting our parks from private development. In a crowded primary race with six candidates running to be the Democratic nominee for LD-32’s two assembly seats, these shared values show a real commitment to building better, more vibrant cities.
Less happily, there is also broad support among the candidates for housing policies and regulatory choices that on the surface are well intentioned but would likely weaken Jersey City and Hoboken’s progress towards providing enough housing supply to meet historic levels of demand. We are particularly worried about the widespread support for ending the 30-year exemption on rent control for new construction and creating a “backdoor” statewide rent regulation ordinance through defining “unconscionable” as a measure tied to inflation with respect to rent increases. Those policies run a grave risk of worsening the affordability crisis by depressing the construction of new rental supply. Similarly, a populist proposal to ban institutions from buying single-family homes and small multi-family buildings is concerning given that it can decrease available rental supply. Similar policies have been shown to result in higher rents where they have been tried. Even worse, lower rental supply has been shown to increase socioeconomic segregation.
The significant overlap between the six candidates also makes creating a voters’ guide and producing any endorsements in this race challenging. Beyond their responses to our candidate questionnaire we referred to their previous track record and statements to provide guidance on their candidacy and reasons for our support or opposition.
The candidates are running on three different slates in the June 10 primary. Katie Brennan and Mayor Ravi Bhalla are running as independent Democrats for the People. Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez and Councilman Yousef Saleh are running with gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop as Democrats for Change. And Crystal Fonseca and Jennie Pu are running with the traditional machine and party boss-backed support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization.
To that end, we have created a guide explaining who we endorse, who we conditionally support (i.e. vote as you see fit), and whose candidacies we oppose. You can read our recommendations here with longer explanations below:
CONDITIONALLY ENDORSE: Katie Brennan
- Reason: Despite our concerns over her position on changing the 30 year rent exception, Brennan gave detailed and thoughtful answers to our survey. We believe we can have a continued and fruitful dialogue on housing issues and that she will be an effective legislator if sent to Trenton. And she is genuinely in favor of creating new housing supply, making streets safe for all users, building vibrant communities, protecting resources like Liberty State Park, and stopping the Turnpike widening. The big risk is that her colleagues in Trenton, always looking for feel-good quick fixes, might adopt some of her more populist proposals without careful consideration of unintended consequences. While we conditionally endorse Brennan’s candidacy with reservations, we do not endorse all the proposals she has put forth and it is our hope she focuses on the zoning and land use reform side of her agenda.
CONDITIONALLY SUPPORT: Ravi Bhalla, Jessica Ramirez, Yousef Saleh
- Reason: Bhalla, Ramirez, and Saleh have a mix of issues that they are good and weak on but not enough consistency to elevate any one over the other for an endorsement.
OPPOSE: Crystal Fonseca, Jennie Pu
- Reason: Fonseca and Pu’s support from HCDO is worrisome and their protestations of being “underdogs” and the face of a kinder, gentler HCDO ring hollow. Their policy positions are not distinguished enough to separate them from other candidates who have stronger records on the issues.
Democrats for the People
CONDITIONALLY ENDORSE: Katie Brennan is a professed policy wonk and housing policy expert with a degree in urban planning from the Bloustein School of Planning at Rutgers. She clearly understands increasing housing supply is critical to affordability in housing markets. Her answers to our questionnaire were detailed and passionate across a range of issues, particularly her support for granny flats and single-stair buildings up to six stories. We believe she would be an effective and zealous advocate in Trenton for advancing a wide range of goals like Vision Zero, protections for Liberty State Park, funding for transit, and zoning and land use reform.
Similarly, though, her effectiveness as an advocate also gives us pause due to issues where we have deep but respectful disagreements on rent regulations. We want to be clear: rent control on older construction (30 years or older) has ambiguous effects. On the one hand, there is evidence that it keeps people in the same home longer, reducing turnover, and providing stability and affordability for households. On the other hand, it leads to persistent problems in the quality of housing, can exacerbate displacement, and often ends up inadvertently subsidizing comparatively richer incumbent households at the expense of younger, lower-income households, since it is not a means-tested policy.
But the harms of rent control on new construction are much starker. It indisputably destroys rental housing production, which would exacerbate the region’s affordability crisis. While she is not proposing universal rent control, the states and cities she cited in favor of enhancing rent regulations build much less housing per capita than we currently produce in Jersey City.
Before embarking on expanding rent control regulations, we would hope that a housing advocate like Brennan would work to fix some of the problems and unintended consequences of how rent control is currently implemented. Especially because such proposals would run the risk of severely limiting the production of new affordable housing via inclusionary zoning mechanisms, which she is clearly passionate about given her support of the 150 Bay Street proposal and inclusionary zoning measures in the past.
In conclusion, reasons to vote for Brennan rest on her strong support for good urbanism, new housing supply, and her genuine concern around affordability. If there is any reason to second-guess your vote, then her effectiveness as an advocate might be a double-edged sword and lead politicians in Trenton who are always looking for quick fixes to adopt the rent regulation proposals, and not the harder pro-supply proposals.
CONDITIONALLY SUPPORT: Ravi Bhalla is the two-term mayor of Hoboken. His responses to the candidate questionnaire were some of the least detailed and most boilerplate. Like his running mate Katie Brennan, however, Bhalla champions reforms that would make building new housing supply easier, protections for Liberty State Park, and investing in transit. He has also been a consistent and vocal critic of the Turnpike widening project. His record as mayor of Hoboken shows a commitment to Vision Zero that has led to some of the safest streets in New Jersey and continued investments in the types of climate resiliency projects that will be necessary to protect our cities from changing coasts and surging seas.
In his second term as mayor, Bhalla broke decisively with the policies of his anti-development predecessor Mayor Dawn Zimmer who, due to her wariness of new housing investment, helped make Hoboken one of the most expensive rental markets in Hudson County. His administration has worked with the city council on exciting redevelopment plans and is working to reinvent the city’s many parking garages into affordable and workforce housing.
Unfortunately, like the other candidates in this race, Bhalla proposes policies on rent regulation that might make the dreams of new supply difficult to fund, quashing needed housing development. He also curiously only supports single-stair reform in buildings of up to four stories, which is considerably less ambitious than reforms recently passed by other states.
Reasons to vote for or against Bhalla are similar to those of his running mate. Unlike many others in the race, he does have a track record that can be evaluated and much of what is in that track record on housing and Vision Zero is good. And the Hudson County Democratic Organization seems to have a deep hatred for Bhalla and has focused most of their attacks on him. If you’re motivated to send a strong message to Craig Guy, Bhalla is probably a good way to do so.
Democrats for Change
CONDITIONALLY SUPPORT: Jessica Ramirez is one of LD-32’s current representatives in the assembly. As part of Steve Fulop’s slate, it comes as no surprise that she is in favor of new housing production. Of the candidates, her support of A5432 (link) shows one of the more measured approaches to reforming New Jersey’s laws on unconscionable rental increases. That bill leaves the governance of determining unconscionability with the courts and provides some geographic constraints, exceptions for investment, and criteria for comparability for when courts might need to decide whether a rent increase is unconscionable. Leaving contractual disputes and defenses to the courts is good public policy. She also took a leadership position on housing as one of just three co-sponsors of A2489, a bill that would legalize accessory dwelling units statewide (link).
However, her strong support of banning institutional investors is more surprising. While other candidates have expressed support for limiting or curtailing institutional investors from buying single family homes, Assemblywoman Ramirez recently introduced A5451, a bill that is intended to prohibit certain institutional investors from buying homes. While there are numerous exceptions for non-profits, family-owned LLCs, and certain trusts, banning institutional investors from purchasing single family homes is unlikely to be the remedy that candidates think it is. First, institutional investors are unlikely to overpay for an investment or bid up the price beyond the general demand for housing. Second, they are not removing housing supply from the market; rather, they’re turning around and putting up homes for rent. Having a supply of single-family rentals makes sense in markets like Jersey City where nearly 70% of households are renters and many renters have rational reasons for renting over buying their home ranging from issues with getting a mortgage to being unsure of how long they plan to live in the same place.
Reasons to vote for Ramirez are 1) she is likely to be supportive of Steve Fulop’s agenda were he to be elected governor; 2) she has good views on supply reform and has introduced important legislation to increase housing supply; and 3) she’s at least voted for relatively moderate changes to better define what unconscionable means in the context of a rental increase. There are also benefits to returning the current assemblywoman to Trenton as she will get more seniority in the state legislature. Our biggest reasons for pause revolve around strict bans on investment activity. We also have some worries over support she has received from pro-Turnpike labor groups. While we recognize that labor organizations are involved in many projects, the Turnpike is one of the most pressing issues that could dramatically worsen Hudson County’s quality of life at the moment.
CONDITIONALLY SUPPORT: Yousef Saleh is a current Jersey City councilman representing Ward D. He is running with Assemblywoman Ramirez under Fulop’s Democrats for Change slate. Like Ramirez and others in the race, Saleh supports reforms that would make supply production easier. As councilman, he also has a record of working towards Vision Zero, despite some of those efforts being hamstrung by members of the city council like Rich Boggiano and Daniel Rivera. He has also supported zoning reforms like allowing multifamily housing and accessory dwelling units in the R-1 zoning district which covers most of Ward D, despite opposition from some sectors.
The biggest detriment to Saleh’s candidacy in this race is his sweeping support of ending the 30-year exemption on putting new construction under rent control, an eagerness to define unconscionability in rent increases more strictly than almost anyone, and his support for banning institutional investors from single and multi-family homes under four units.
Like Ramirez, the reason for potentially voting for Saleh is Fulop. He has been a dedicated and reliable vote for Fulop’s agenda while Fulop was mayor of Jersey City. He would likely support a hypothetical Governor Fulop’s transit and housing agenda, which is among the best of the current candidates running for governor. In the probable event that Fulop is not governor, we see other candidates as being potentially more effective in getting the beneficial parts of the zoning reform agenda through the legislature.
Saleh might also be better off running for another term in Ward D, seeking to retain his council seat.
Hudson County Democratic Organization (“HCDO”)
OPPOSE: Crystal Fonseca and Jennie Pu have some variation in their answers to the candidate survey but they 1) broadly seem aligned with Senator Raj Mukherji (LD-32)’s legislative agenda; and 2) have some but very little variability in their responses to distinguish them from the other candidates who are running in this race. But Sen. Mukherji, who we believe is one of the smartest and most effective politicians in Hudson County, is not enough to push Fonseca and Pu into serious consideration.
Given limited policy variation between the candidates and the stakes at play in this election, we recommend not voting for Fonseca, Pu, or any other candidate boasting of HCDO support. While Fonseca and Pu are individually fine – even admirable – people, their association with HCDO makes them unelectable given the stakes around a host of issues facing Hudson County. And their joint response on the candidate questionnaire around the financial and political support they have received from pro-Turnpike widening groups makes that abundantly clear.
Fonseca and Pu claim they have “earned” (emphasis theirs) the support of the Democratic Party. They have not. The support of Democrats will be decided on June 10. This will be the first time we run a primary for the state legislature without the vaunted county line.
Fonseca and Pu undoubtedly have the support of HCDO Chairman Craig Guy, though. As chairman, Guy has the power to award official party support at his sole discretion. Atlantic, Burlington, Hunterdon, Monmouth, and Warren all allow elected members of the Democratic Committee to vote to award official party endorsement by secret ballot. Hudson County’s organization does not. It is still the same smoke-filled backroom that it always was. Some of the faces may have changed but Craig Guy’s biggest “reforms” can be summed up as merely putting lipstick on a pig.
Craig Guy undoubtedly has the support of the groups that want to widen the Turnpike extension through Hudson County as both the County Executive and the Democratic Party chairman. Pro-Turnpike groups have given both his personal campaign account and the party’s coffers hundreds of thousands of dollars. He and the HCDO in turn have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in support to elect Fonseca and Pu (as well as their more unabashedly pro-Turnpike colleagues, Jerry Walker and William Sampson, in LD-31).
Furthermore, Fonseca and Pu claim they are “the underdogs” in this race. If they were running as independents, then that would probably be true. But they are not underdogs. They enjoy the most financial support of anyone in the race. They have the support of the biggest, most well-resourced machine in the state, various party bosses, and the backing of Hudson Votes, a new big-money PAC backed by special interests. If either of these candidates were to prevail on June 10, the possibility of meaningful reforms in the county will be greatly reduced, especially our chances of stopping the harmful Turnpike expansion widening.
In any race, voters must decide whether campaign promises from candidates running for office are likely to be kept if and when those same candidates get elected. While we cannot know for certain how Fonseca and Pu would really vote on issues where they claim to disagree with the HCDO, the balance of evidence and past political history suggest you should be deeply skeptical. Fonseca and Pu are first-time candidates with no past political experience running largely on the strength of some of the most powerful and politically-entrenched groups in the state, all of which support the Turnpike widening.
When trying to assess how they would vote as legislators, we struggle to believe HCDO has changed much about how it operates beyond window dressing. Is the HCDO likely to back candidates who they think oppose their interests? For a recent example, look no further than Assemblywoman Barbara McCann Stamato (LD-31) who was a stalwart in the party for years but quickly lost official support after she broke from HCDO on a host of issues.
Finally, many of Fonseca and Pu’s views on housing supply are suspect based on campaign-related comments. In their campaign mailers, they have sent out attacks on Mayors Bhalla and Fulop who are two of the Hudson County mayors who have done the most to increase new housing supply for their respective cities. Growing new housing supply is critical to housing affordability and the fiscal stability of Hudson County’s cities. Undermining that progress, coupled with support for regulations that stymie new housing production will dramatically worsen the affordability crisis. They also enjoy and proudly display the support of some of the most vocal opponents to new housing production like Hoboken councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher who has repeatedly voted against new affordable housing in favor of protecting parking garages.
We encourage voters in LD-32 not to vote for the HCDO-backed candidates regardless of their personal feelings towards the individuals running on that slate. Until meaningful reform comes to how the official Hudson County party organization operates, reform-minded voters who support the urban vitality movement are encouraged to vote for candidates who are independent of the HCDO.