HOW'S YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD?
We're very pleased to share Laying the Foundation for Strong Neighborhoods in Trenton, NJ: A Market-Oriented Assessment. The report is a comprehensive analysis of the conditions and trends in Trenton neighborhoods, and promises to become a key guide for revitalization strategies in Trenton for many years to come. Click here to download the full report.
As part of this, a range of new tools have been added to Restoring Trenton's interactive map. to allow Trentonians to explore Strong Neighborhoods' data and get more detailed information on specific vacant properties. More info on the Neighborhood dashboard and other tools is here.
“We’ve been excited to participate in this project,” said Eric Jackson, Mayor of Trenton. “We’re a city of diverse neighborhoods, each with its own opportunities and challenges. This is the first time we’ve had this kind of data to help us design the best strategies for each part of our city.”
The study team (see below) looked at eight indicators of neighborhood condition in each of Trenton’s 55 neighborhoods and subareas. These indicators include vacant properties, homeownership rate, median sales price, percentage of home sales to investors, mortgage foreclosure filings, tax delinquency, percentage of tax liens bought by investors, and violent crime.
The report also lays out potential strategies to help address the challenges facing the city, focusing in particular on strategies to deal with vacant properties, improve rental housing, and stabilize homeownership. According to Alan Mallach, principal author of the report, “For a small city, Trenton has a lot of different neighborhoods, and each one has different needs and opportunities. If the city is going to make the most of its assets, it has to make its strategies fit the particular conditions of each neighborhood.”
The Strong Neighborhoods report and database was prepared by New Jersey Community Capital, the Center for Community Progress, Isles, and the Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers-Newark. It was made possible by grants from the Princeton Area Community Foundation (PACF), the Garfield Foundation, and Thomas Edison State College.
