La Casa de Don Pedro is dedicated to helping improve the quality of life for Newark residents by going out into the neighborhood, beautifying the area and hearing right from its residents. On June 22nd La Casa de Don Pedro's Community Organizer, Giovanni Bonilla, went out to clean up our Stone Street property with future plans to build an affordable home for sale. Mr. Bonilla spoke with local residents near the Stone Street location to build relationships and create a dialogue with them about their neighborhood.
Last month La Casa de Don Pedro was present at Legislative Day in Trenton to sit and speak with Essex county representatives like Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake to help restore $46.5 Million into the State's Affordable Housing Trust Fund New Jersey's state budget. With New Jersey being one of the most expensive states for homeowners, La Casa is working with our state representatives to make housing in New Jersey more affordable for all its residents.
Our advocacy efforts paid off! Members of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee and many others, helped make sure that $15 million for New Jersey’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund was included in the New Jersey state budget for FY19. In addition to preserving a portion of the Trust Fund, together with the Housing & Community Development Network, we helped secure a 50% increase in the funding available for the Neighborhood Revitalization Tax Credit (NRTC) for the first time in the program’s history.