An offer to build affordable homes
By: Greg Forester
WEST WINDSOR Habitat for Humanity is prepared to help provide state-mandated affordable housing as part of the township’s planned redevelopment project.
Marshall Lerner, a West Windsor resident and representative of the Millstone Basin affiliate of Habitat, extended the offer to the township council on Monday. "We would be happy to assist the community and the township," Mr. Lerner told the council. "We build affordable housing and combat poverty, and our approach is different than a regular builder."
Other Habitat for Humanity officials said the project would help them get more involved in West Windsor.
"It’s good to be supportive of the community in the area," said Tara Roche, vice president of Habitat for Humanity Millstone Basin Area. "It would be great to get working in West Windsor."
Mr. Lerner’s offer comes as West Windsor is continuing work on the redevelopment process, trying to gain input from residents to create a plan dictating what will be built in the area around the train station.
Eventually the project will be given to developers responsible for building the structures and homes that could make up much of the project.
Mr. Lerner said Habitat for Humanity is different from any developer that would come in and build the affordable housing required by any project built around the train station.
"We have no political agenda, we help and improve the community, and we have no profit margin to balance anything against," Mr. Lerner said.
The group is currently building housing on Evan Drive in East Windsor, in a project partially funded by Queenship of Mary Catholic Church in Plainsboro.
The organization builds the housing using funds internally generated from contributions from the surrounding community, and relies on the physical labor of volunteers gathered from the organization’s area, which includes West Windsor, Plainsboro, East Windsor, Hightown, Cranbury, and Washingtown Township.
Mr. Lerner said that most of the time the homes Habitat builds end up going to first-time homeowners.
"It’s a life-changing experience for both the families moving in, and the volunteers working on the home," said Mr. Lerner. "It’s a win-win situation for everyone."
Township officials said they were pleased with the offer, but noted that it was a little early to begin discussions on who could help build the affordable housing, when the township hadn’t even decided on the makeup of the entire project.
Parking garages could be the only things built, or 1,000 residential units, as suggested by the planner hired by the township RMJM Hillier, said Councilman Charles Morgan.
"I think this discussion may be a little premature," Mr. Morgan said.
Council President Will Anklowitz said he believed Habitat for Humanity and other organizations could have a place somewhere in the future of the project.
"It’s certainly something that should be considered if that opportunity comes up," he said. "That’s something we will need to address."
Whatever the land-use plan ends up creating, the housing portions will have to adhere to the township’s affordable housing resolution, which dictates the way the township creates the ratio of affordable and market-rate housing and places them geographically, Mr. Morgan said.
Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh said he had received many offers of assistance like that of Mr. Lerner, and he was optimistic about the help the township could get once the project moves along.
"There is no question that I am going to enlist all the help I can get," said Mayor Hsueh. "I have been communicating with outside organizations and I feel positive about the kind of support we could get."
However, the mayor said, the township wouldn’t be able to discuss assistance from outside entities until it has a land-use plan for the redevelopment, specifying what could be built in designated areas.
More information about Habitat for Humanity’s Millstone Basin Area affiliate can be found on the Web at www.habitatmba.org.

