Can Historic Assets be a Solution to New Jersey’s Affordable Housing Crisis?

As municipalities recently scrambled to answer interrogatives from the court and file updated model ordinances to satisfy the most recent round four housing obligations by a March 15^th deadline, historic assets offer a solution.

Historic Preservation is often thought of as a “nice thing to do” but that is not enough to preserve the structures that characterize our communities. Many believe that in New Jersey preserving our historic assets is not economically feasible and we need to be constantly building new. This is simply not true and a product of laziness and acceptance of preconceived notions. However, it does take some appropriate compromise which leads to the discussion of adaptive re-use.  Once it may have been a dirty term, but in a place like New Jersey it allows us to preserve historic assets while providing for needs such as housing. Benefits include, promoting more stable economic development , preserving cultural character and creating a positive environmental impact.

Many communities have used their historic assets to spark revitalization efforts.  Revitalization as opposed to tear down and build new provides greater diversity of income and cultural background in neighborhoods, increases property values, and increases job opportunities.  Often these help redefine a community and set a path for more stable economic development efforts than new housing.

Preservation of older buildings produces higher-paying jobs than new construction and the dollars tend to stay in the local economy. Preservation of historic buildings generally requires a higher skill set, wages produced with rehabilitation generally are higher, and remain in the local economy more. Numerous studies conducted by Rutgers University have shown that in many parts of the country, a $1 million investment in historic rehabilitation yields markedly better effects on employment, income, and state and local taxes than an equal investment in new construction or many other economic activities (e.g., manufacturing or services).” Once developers learn what is necessary to use a historic asset as the foundation of a project, the quality of construction proves as a hard cost saving. Studies indicate that adaptive reuse can yield construction cost savings of up to 20-30% compared to new construction  Soft cost savings come from less resistance from communities which saves time in historic commission reviews and planning board meetings, all adding up to bottom line savings which can exceed tear down and construct new profits. While the economic development argument is strong and financial success often guides a project, this argument can be dangerous as focusing on the economic impacts discounts the myriad of other benefits.

Preserving the cultural character of our communities in New Jersey has become more critical as affordable housing initiatives which drive new construction often lead to discussions about the negative impacts of gentrification of neighborhoods. Using historic assets preserves the cultural character of our unique communities.  It allows the stories to remain, it presents the community with a level of honesty new construction erases.  Preserving cultural character does not preclude new people from coming to communities which furthers the social impact of re-using historic assets allowing us to learn about other people. It is critical that we build an understanding of others, their experiences, their contributions, their hardships.  Without the preservation of the structures where this all occurred we lose the opportunity to learn from and about each other and the opportunity to build stronger communities.

Environmental benefits also abound with reuse of historic assets for housing needs.  Using existing structures reduces the amount of construction debris deposited into the waste stream.  According to Architecture 2030, 49% of the total carbon emissions of global new construction between now and 2050 will come from material production and acquisition. “Far and away the best way to reduce carbon is to re-use existing buildings. By recycling structure, we can save up to 40% of emissions. These targets are achievable now”  shares Juliette Morgan, ESG Consultancy Director. These are just some of the leading industry voices recognizing the significant environmental benefit of reusing historic assets.

The time has come for historic assets to be recognized by municipalities and developers alike as key assets to be revitalized and serve as a real solution to the affordable housing crisis in New Jersey.