Lakewood sees lower demand than expected for affordable housing

Despite a major advertising push, housing advocates received back less than a sixth of the applications they sent out for bids to live in the 72 units of the affordable housing going up, officials said."We thought there would be higher demand for affordable housing, than the return we got,'' Ervin Oross Jr., Lakewood's director of community development, said. "Maybe people don't want to report their income and submit the paperwork. Perhaps they have poor credit and can't obtain a mortgage. There's a whole range of reasons, actually.''The deadline for applications was Nov. 30. For two years prior, township leaders said, they spread the word heavily through Spanish-language, Ocean and Monmouth county newspapers, the state housing-mortgage Web site and local churches. Yet, of the 6,500 applications that went out, only 1,100 were returned, Oross said.Still, Michael McNeil, chairman of STEPS -- one of three nonprofit groups trying to get about 400 units of affordable housing off the ground -- sees the effort to spread the word as having been worthwhile."Overall, we're happy with all the folks and all the churches that did what they had to do,'' he said. "I'm proud of the whole community.''
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