To the Editor:

On Thursday, July 21, Princeton Community Housing (PCH) was honored to host their virtual event, A Place to Call Home — an informational discussion on affordable housing.

Panelists at this event included President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition Diane Yentel, Director of Racial Justice Policy at Fair Share Housing Center James Williams, and Social Service Coordinator at Princeton Community Housing Jordan Goodwin. These experts spoke about the national and local landscape of affordable housing and how we can make progress in providing affordable, safe, and well-maintained homes.

“To afford a one-bedroom apartment making minimum wage in the state of New Jersey, you would have to work six full-time jobs,” stated Williams. In addition to speaking about the particularly high cost of housing in New Jersey, Williams reminded us of the additional economic inequalities had by those working multiple jobs and how these families were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, Yentel shared that one of the best and most effective ways we can improve the housing crisis is to build more affordable homes — an effort that PCH is currently taking part in. The proceeds from this event benefited PCH’s Home Means Hope Campaign. This campaign is raising funds to build 25 new affordable homes and make neighborhood improvements at Princeton Community Village — a community originally developed by PCH in 1975.

To learn more about PCH’s Home Means Hope Campaign, including a recording of this event, photos of construction of the new homes, and information on how you can help combat the affordable housing crisis by supporting this campaign, visit pchhomes.org/homemeanshope.

Ed Truscelli
Executive Director
Princeton Community Housing, on behalf of the Board of Trustees