Learn more about Monmouth Housing Alliance and help it do its job

I am writing as a pastor in Holmdel concerning the low-income housing that is being requested from the federal government near Phillips Park, Holmdel. I cannot speak for all the members of my church, the Holmdel Community Church, but I can say I am distressed by the level of misrepresentation and fear surrounding this issue.

It seems the poor residents of our area are being characterized as violent and dangerous, child-molesters and drug dealers. People are rushing to condemn this proposal before all the facts are in, before we know the nature of the program and its activities for those in need. Assuming it is a program that will be well-supervised and genuinely attentive to the needs of low-income people in the area, I can only support it.

The Monmouth Housing Alliance plans to give supervised training in homeownership, leading people to independent and responsible lives within a well-defined program. This deserves all of our support.

Obviously there are two sides. People are rightfully concerned for the safety of their children and the seeming lack of information available around the housing. I, for one, need more information about the program of the Alliance, its screening process and its program for its residents.

Our area is in the midst of a severe housing crisis for low-income people. The average rent in the area is $933. Many people go without medical insurance and are one paycheck away from homelessness.

Our church works with the Calico Cat Food Pantry, St. Mark’s Soup Kitchen, the Interfaith Hospitality Network and other groups that assist low-income people in our towns. The stories I hear day after day are of hardworking people holding several jobs, with children in school, who suffer an accident of health crisis and become swamped by bills and rental payments, and eventually eviction notices. These are people who need a leg up, which is what the Monmouth Housing Alliance seems to offer.

Let’s learn more about the Monmouth Housing Alliance and help it to do the job it is striving to do: assist our low-income neighbors in Monmouth County.

Rev. Rusty Eidmann-Hicks

Pastor, Holmdel Community

United Church of Christ