By Ras J. Baraka

This is the story of how the failure of government agencies to collaborate to achieve clean, decent, affordable housing resulted in 50 years of misery for the residents of Newark's Garden Spires apartments and how collaboration is now about to change the tragic narrative.

On Oct. 28, 1965, two years before the Newark Rebellion, our city celebrated the opening of Garden Spires, which comprised two apartment towers on the site of the former Newark Academy, with 275 one-bedroom, 205 two-bedroom, and 80 three-bedroom units. It was the first high-rise apartment complex built in Newark for moderate-income families. Financing of $9.1 million from the Federal Housing Authority made it affordable for the local teachers, city and federal government employees, and commercial and industrial workers who were the first tenants.

Yet, four years after its opening, conditions at Garden Spires had already begun what would become a 50-year downward spiral that rendered the buildings virtually uninhabitable. In 1969, a number of tenants staged a rent strike complaining of "intolerable maintenance conditions" in the buildings including failure to regularly supply heat and hot water, frequent elevator breakdowns, a broken incinerator, and cracked plaster walls. This was just the beginning.

Nearly 20 years later, in 1986, tenants complained to the Newark Municipal Council about daily elevator problems, weak security, decaying stairwells, and other serious maintenance problems. The building manager testified that conditions were being fixed and blamed the city and the tenants. Municipal officials pushed back by stating that they had fined the landlord for multiple violations. Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) representatives said their agency had sold the building to a Massachusetts corporation three years before with HUD continuing to hold the mortgage and provide rent subsidies for most tenants.

Since the building had a HUD mortgage, it was not subject to local rent control regulations or inspection by local officials at the time--infuriating the community. It had to be inspected by state, not city inspectors, although state inspection results could be used as the basis for Municipal Court action. The bottom line: with HUD, the Municipal Court, and State inspectors each operating in their own separate silos, virtually nothing got done.

Fast forward to 1999. Then-Councilmember Cory A. Booker staged a 10-day protest at Garden Spires, living in a tent on the parking lot. This drew national attention, but the inability of city, state, and federal agencies to develop a collaborative action plan preserved the status quo. In the ensuing years, conditions continued to deteriorate, with the complex becoming increasingly riddled with crime and drug dealing.

Fast forward again to 2015. I had been elected mayor the year before and inherited the Garden Spires mess. Our code enforcement, health and Fire Division teams raided the complex on an early morning, finding inhumane living conditions, which included rat infestation, raw sewage, and stairwells where homeless people defecated and urinated regularly. Our officers closed the unlicensed food store on the ground floor that was selling expired and rotten food. It was clear that control of Garden Spires had to be removed from its owner, First King Properties.

By September, we had found a developer willing to take over Garden Spires, renovate it, and preserve it as affordable housing. The Municipal Council unanimously approved a measure to make it part of a redevelopment plan, opening the door for a tax abatement and other incentives needed to renovate the buildings.

The new developer, Omni America, LLC, led by former all-star Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn and developer Eugene Schneur, is an experienced owner and manager specializing in affordable housing with buildings in New York, Wyoming, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and throughout the Southeast. Omni pledged to rehabilitate the buildings without displacing tenants and that work would be performed apartment by apartment, with tenants leaving only during the day and coming back to a freshly refurbished home.

For tenants, it was a moment of hope, but hope was soon dashed when the planned incentives were rejected by the State, which insisted that First King Properties make extensive repairs before it would enable Omni to buy the building. For two years, the buildings languished with First King refusing to make the necessary repairs while continuing to collect rent on outrageously substandard housing and HUD wrongfully continuing to pay the owner Section 8 subsidies without diverting the money to fix up the building.

Last year, the City began implementing an audacious new strategy. We sued First King Properties and HUD, seeking to have the court declare the buildings uninhabitable, appoint a receiver to assure that rents were used for essential repairs, and require the landlord to pay to resettle the residents. At the same time, we sued First King for accepting funds from HUD for apartments that were vacant or uninhabitable.

This set in motion a chain of events that led the city, HUD, and the state of New Jersey to work collectively to rescue the tenants. HUD stepped up to the plate and required the landlord to pay $800,000 for not complying with their rules. With the election of a Gov. Phil Murphy, and his Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, the state sprang into action. The New Jersey Home Mortgage Finance Agency contributed $59.3 million in financing plus tax credits that enable $49.1 million in additional private equity. The State Economic Development Authority also awarded Omni America $43 million in Economic Redevelopment tax credits.

The story of Garden Spires will end well, but let's not forget the many residents of Newark, including children, who have endured unconscionable living conditions for decades. And let's not forget slumlords who sat on their hands and looked the other way. Action and accountability -- or lack thereof -- are key themes that ran throughout this story.

Now, after more than 50 years of neglect and decay that no individual government entity could stop, the residents of Garden Spires are being rescued through a collaborative effort being put forth by the City of Newark, Murphy and Oliver (who are committed to saving affordable housing), the cooperation of HUD, tenants who never gave up fighting for their rights, and a developer committed to social justice.

This kind of collaboration is exactly what's needed to begin solving the nation's housing crisis and ensuring that housing is affordable, clean, and decent.

Ras J. Baraka is mayor of the City of Newark.

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