City Council preview: $2.93M from housing trust proposed for Harmony House, 44-unit project

City planning and community development staff asked the Jersey City Municipal Council on April 6 to authorize up to $2,929,50(0) from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for Harmony House, a 44-unit rental development at 174'04 Stegman Street (MLK corridor) that includes one ground-floor commercial space and 10 units subject to a 30-year affordability covenant.

Amari Santiago, presenting Resolution 26-173 for the Division of Community Development, said the project sits on land conveyed to the developer by the city on June 26, 2024, and that the requested Trust Fund award would be used alongside other financing in the project's capital stack.

Council members asked why a 2024 award progress had not translated into funding sooner. Santiago said the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund spending plan required state and superior-court approval and that the litigation tied to that approval delayed disbursements. "Once the court gave the approval, we're now rapidly bringing back anything that was previously approved," Santiago said.

Councilman Brooks and other members questioned the affordability mix. The council pressed staff and the developer on whether very low-income units (below 30% of area median income) were included. Danny Mirabbo, the developer representative, said the project targets a mixed affordability distribution with AMI bands around 30% to 80%, but could not provide precise rents on the spot; he said the deferred developer fee is being used as equity to make the capital stack work and explained that deferring the fee lets the developer convert an earned fee into project equity paid back once the development stabilizes.

Santiago and the developer agreed to provide the council with the affordability distribution and exact rent levels in follow-up materials. Several council members asked for documentation showing the funding sources (including the deferred developer fee) and asked staff to confirm the specific approvals that had been completed in 2024 and which remaining administrative steps remained.

Next steps: staff said they would provide the requested affordability breakdown, historical award documentation and the account balances for the trust fund going back to 2022 ahead of the Wednesday council meeting. No formal vote on the Harmony House award was recorded during the caucus.