Hoboken Hires Firm to Study 20% Affordable Housing Mandate

On a night when the Hoboken City Council approved a $30,000 contract for a Philadelphia consulting firm to study the feasibility of raising the city’s affordable housing requirement from 10 to 20 percent, the real debate spilled out of the dais and into the room. Cheryl Fallick, a housing activist who has spent years pushing for more affordable units, stood up and questioned why the city would spend money on a study when the answer seems so plain to her.

“Why are we, in the shadow of a serious budget crisis, spending this money and are we getting what the Hoboken taxpayers are paying for?” she asked. “This resolution proposes spending $30k of taxpayer money to determine whether it’s feasible for Hoboken to increase its unbelievably paltry 10 percent affordable housing requirement.”

Econsult Solutions Inc. will now spend the next several months crunching numbers—looking at developer profit margins, construction costs, market rents, and the trade-offs that come with mandating more affordable units. The study is meant to give the city a real financial model, something council members say has been missing from every recent development debate.

But for many in the room, the study felt like a delay tactic. Mary Ondrejka, a longtime resident, put it bluntly: “It doesn’t take rocket science to understand we have an affordable housing problem. All the buildings being built are for wealthier people: You have rocks in your head!”

Emily Wirt, another resident, pointed to the cruel math of Hoboken’s rental market—where a one-bedroom can easily go for $4,000 a month—and said the city can’t afford to wait for more analysis. “It’s absolutely necessary that you change the law so housing developers have to include 20 percent affordable units,” she said.

The vote wasn’t unanimous. Councilman Mike Russo, who represents the Third Ward, voted no. He made it clear that he doesn’t need a study to tell him what he already knows. “I personally don’t care what that study says. I personally want to make a change to 20 percent,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it increases costs to developers. If there’s less in giveback when it comes to one-for-one parking for bikes or cars—it doesn’t matter because I want more affordable housing.”

Russo’s frustration echoes a deeper tension in Hoboken. The city has added thousands of new units over the past decade, but most of them are luxury apartments. The 10 percent affordable requirement, which has been in place for years, hasn’t kept pace with the need. Meanwhile, rents keep climbing, and ordinary working families—teachers, nurses, restaurant staff—are being priced out of the very town they serve.

Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, who represents the Second Ward, argued that the study is precisely what the city needs. “In the 10-and-a-half years I’ve been on the City Council, we’ve never actually seen in front of us an honest financial model around a real estate development in Hoboken,” she said. “And when you look at what these guys do, it’s all they do. They have all the tools. They know what the cost of affordable housing is, they know what development costs are, they have a sense of what givebacks.”

Fisher’s point is about more than just housing numbers. She’s talking about the broader deal between developers and the city—the “givebacks” that can include a new school, a recreation center, or other community benefits. A study that lays out these trade-offs, she believes, could finally let the city negotiate from a place of knowledge rather than guesswork.

Councilman at-Large Joe Quintero, who voted yes, said he supports the study because he wants to find the right number, not just a popular one. “It could have depressive effects,” he said, referring to the possibility that a 20 percent mandate might discourage new construction. “You can’t just rely on price controls. I’ve been very supportive of rent controls. The only way we’re going to get out of this is to increase supply.”

Not everyone is convinced that hiring a firm with ties to the development industry is the right move. Ernest Boyd, a resident, said he didn’t like the idea of paying “a pro-landlord firm” for “something we already know should exist.” Others, like Councilman Phil Cohen of the Fifth Ward, noted that he ran for office on a 15 percent mandate years ago and that the city needs to be careful about litigation. “I agree 10 percent is too low,” he said. “I do think we’ll learn something from this study.”

So what does this mean for you and your family? If you’re a renter, it means the city is seriously considering raising the bar for new developments. If that happens, future buildings could include more units that are actually affordable to people who work in Hoboken, not just those who can afford market-rate luxury. But it also means that developers might build fewer units, or ask for concessions elsewhere—like taller buildings or fewer parking spaces—to make their numbers work. No one knows yet, which is exactly why the study was commissioned.

For now, the study is expected to take several months. Residents who want to weigh in should watch for public meetings where the findings will be presented. The council will have to decide whether to act on the results, and the conversation is likely to continue at the next council meeting.

The study won’t solve Hoboken’s affordability crisis on its own. But for the first time in a long time, the city is putting real money behind the question of how to make the town more livable for everyone—not just the wealthiest new arrivals.