Our Projects: Bergenview

Images: Man, Central Grammar Development

Community Initiatives






Through an innovative mix of affordable housing and social services, Bergenview (formerly the YMCA of Jersey City) is providing a home to 131 formerly homeless individuals. With the completion of Bergenview, The Community Builders, Inc. is proving that Supportive Housing—the combination of affordable housing and appropriate services—can successfully help homeless people move off the street and rebuild their lives. Supportive Housing is an effective solution to homelessness that helps individuals make the transition to more stable, healthy lives. It is also far more cost effective than many of its alternatives: shelters, hospitalization, and incarceration. The Community Builders acquired the YMCA of Jersey City in 1996 and began raising the funds to renovate the building, forming valuable partnerships with organizations that now run programs out of the redeveloped Bergenview. Among the current occupants is The Doe Fund, which operates its Ready, Willing & Able program at Bergenview. Just one of the innovative programs offered, Ready, Willing & Able provides housing to homeless individuals and pays them to help with the general maintenance of the city, such as sweeping streets and cleaning vacant lots. 59 of Bergenview’s 131 residents participate in this program. In addition to The Doe Fund, Bergenview also houses a Head Start program, as well as a pool, basketball court, and weight room, all three of which the Jersey City Department of Recreation leases and opens for public use. Bergenview offers such an unconventional and wide variety of programs that at any given time, one might find high school students practicing their swing in the batting cages, young children playing in the Head Start day care program, teens participating in the after school activities of the Safe Haven program, or a group of recovering drug addicts attending a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. In this way, Bergenview proves that a homeless housing program can indeed be placed in a family neighborhood near child care programs, schools, and recreation facilities. Bergenview demonstrates that such an eclectic combination of programs can operate successfully in a single building, with a diverse group of people all finding what they need under one roof. With the multi-million dollar renovation complete, Bergenview offers 59 single room occupancy units, 72 efficiency apartments, and 44,000 square feet of community space, making it New Jersey's largest Supportive Housing Development.

Project Highlights


A Supportive Housing development offering single room occupancy units and efficiency apartments to 131 formerly homeless individuals along with 44,000 square feet of community space for a variety of social service programs. TCB Role: Sponsor and Developer Financial Participants: City of Jersey City, New Jersey Mortgage Finance Agency, New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, Fleet Bank, JER Hudson Housing Capital, Jersey City Housing Authority, Corporation for Supportive Housing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Total Development Cost: $13 million Total Units: 59 single room occupancy units; 72 efficiency apartments Type of Construction: Substantial Rehab
Awards


2004 Best Practices in Collaborative Partnerships Award from The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) 2004 Award for Outstanding Job in Preserving the YMCA Site, presented by the Jersey City Historical Preservation Society