Support the Preservation of Kingsbury Towers
Home to 1,000 Trenton Residents
Kingsbury Towers is a 364-unit affordable housing development in downtown Trenton, which is home to 1,000 Trenton residents, roughly 1% of the City’s population, including families, seniors, and veterans. Kingsbury Company is a nonprofit corporation, with a board of directors composed of prominent Trenton leaders, including representatives from the City’s houses of worship, the AFL-CIO, the City of Trenton, and others. Now 50 years old, Kingsbury Towers must undergo an extensive rehabilitation to ensure safe, healthy living conditions for Kingsbury residents. The Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness strongly supports investing in the Kingsbury community.
The need
is now
Long-term, more scattered site affordable housing is needed across Mercer County, but the need to preserve housing at Kingsbury is immediate. Mercer County faces an acute shortage of housing affordable to very low-income households. If Kingsbury is not preserved, many of its 1,000 residents are at risk of homelessness.
Financing is available
Fortunately, financing Kingsbury’s rehabilitation will not detract from other projects—the rehab will be financed by 4% Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the NJ HMFA, which are awarded “as-of-right,” not competitively. Similar rehabilitation projects have vastly improved the quality of life for residents.
Residents are engaged
A veteran organizer with the HUD tenants coalition will support the development of a tenants association, in order to generate resident input into the rehab project, and build the capacity of Kingsbury residents to self-advocate in the near- and long-term.
At the corner of Cooper and Market streets, building a safe, thriving community at Kingsbury will anchor Trenton’s continued downtown revitalization.