Gerardo Benavides, MPP ’23, Interviewed about Immigrant Housing Hardships Report

October 18, 2022

As part of a summer 2022 internship, Bloustein School MPP student Gerardo Benavides worked with Make the Road New Jersey to collect 400+ surveys and contribute to a report titled Housing Insecurity: A survey of tenants in Elizabeth, Passaic and Perth Amboy.

Watch video interview: https://www.njspotlightnews.org/video/immigrant-renters-face-extreme-hardships-report-says/

Abstract

New Jersey faces an affordable housing crisis that has reached unprecedented levels. The crisis predates COVID-19, but its severity and size have only been exacerbated by the pandemic’s impact on the state’s economy and social fabric. The soaring cost of housing has an outsized impact on renters.

Based on an extensive survey and in-depth interviews with nearly 400 low-income tenants of color and immigrant tenants in these cities, the study shows the extreme hardship and severity of the housing crisis as experienced by immigrant renters of color. After analysis of the survey responses, we provide a series of policy recommendations for how our state and local governments can respond to the mounting housing insecurity.

Other Media Coverage

Recent Posts

NJSPL: The Potential of Participatory Budgeting Within New Jersey

Budget Cuts and Who Absorbs Them When budgets are cut, the first programs to go are those without dedicated funding or legal mandate. Many of those programs serve low-income, disabled, and vulnerable populations. New Jersey is in a period of fiscal austerity. The...

Prof. Andrews and PhD Candidate Lina Moe: Make Room for Robots

Make Room for Robots Read Article Summary As robots become increasingly common in cities, from sidewalk delivery bots and security robots to drones and autonomous vehicles, policymakers face new questions about safety, privacy, accessibility, and the use of shared...

New Jersey State Policy Lab Holds 5th Annual Internship Presentations

On Wednesday, August 5th, the New Jersey State Policy Lab hosted the end-of-summer presentations for the 2026 intern cohort at the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. These presentations are the culmination of the work accomplished through the 10-week...