Building for Working Families: A Housing Agenda for Jersey City
Jersey City is facing an affordable housing crisis — and it didn't happen by accident.
For years, development in this city served the wealthy and the politically connected. The result:
- More than half of Jersey City renters are cost-burdened.
- Of 74,000+ units approved in the last decade, only 4% are considered affordable
- More than 3,000 Black Jersey City residents were displaced in the last decade alone
Mayor Solomon is taking a different path. Building for Working Families is his commitment to a Jersey City where working people can afford to live. Every housing deal seeking city support will be held to a clear standard:
- Maximize affordable homes — pushed to the limit of what each project can feasibly deliver, at levels of real affordability
- Pay workers fairly — prevailing and living wages wherever feasible
- Secure real community benefits — parks, jobs, and commercial space defined and binding before any deal is approved
- Independent analysis on every deal — no predetermined outcomes, no rubber stamps
- No developer money — Mayor Solomon does not accept campaign contributions from developers, so residents can trust every decision is made for them.
The Canal Crossing Project:
The first housing development under Building for Working Families — and the model every future deal will be measured against.
Located in Bergen-Lafayette adjacent to Berry Lane Park, Canal Crossing is 508 homes at mixed affordability levels, built with union labor, and anchored by real community investment. It is not a luxury tower. It is what development for working people actually looks like.
Key facts:
- 102 affordable homes (20%), including rents of $1,000 and under and affordably priced 3-bedroom family units.
- Built under a project labor agreement, with prevailing wages for all service workers
- Brand-new 33,000 sq ft Garfield Park — paid for by the developer
- Initial extension of the Morris Canal Greenway connecting to Berry Lane Park
- ~20,000 sq ft of new commercial and retail space
- Transit-oriented development immediately adjacent to the Garfield Avenue light rail stop
The Solomon Administration will seek approval for the Canal Crossing financial agreement at the June City Council meetings — first reading June 10, vote June 24.
Cleaning Up What Was Left Behind: Environmental Remediation
Canal Crossing is being built on land that corporate polluters abandoned. The community fought back and won.
For over 50 years, the site was used for heavy industrial operations, leaving the land deeply contaminated with chromite. The contamination sat for decades — preventing any development and leaving one of Jersey City's most underinvested neighborhoods with a toxic, unusable parcel at its heart.
The community fought to change that:
- Years of litigation and advocacy forced environmental remediation of the site.
- Significant cleanup work was completed over the past 10–15 years - over 600,000 tons of soil were removed (approx. 20ft)
In June 2020, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection confirmed the remediation meets the state's most stringent chromium cleanup standards.
Canal Crossing will be the first development on this land in many decades. What was once a symbol of corporate neglect is becoming a model of what this city owes its residents — affordable homes, a new park, and real investment in a neighborhood that fought for it.