Rumson Enters Contract to Buy Oxford House

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The home at 61 South Ward Ave. is being eyed by Rumson for future affordable housing. Photo by Allison Perrine

By Allison Perrine

RUMSON – The Oxford House sobriety home on South Ward Avenue is currently for sale and the borough is under contract to purchase it to help partially satisfy its state-mandated affordable housing obligation.

Rumson will spend $635,000 from its affordable housing trust fund to buy the property at 61 South Ward Ave. The current tax assessment is $774,800. Once the deal closes and the current seven tenants have vacated the property, Rumson said it will bring in a nonprofit organization, like Habitat for Humanity, to renovate it for qualifying residents.

“After our meeting we had on the 14th that we had with the community (regarding affordable housing), we became aware of the house being up for sale,” said Thomas Rogers, municipal clerk and administrator. “It meets certain qualifications that we’re trying to find, which is a house that needs a little work,” as they had for the existing Habitat for Humanity home in Rumson.

The resolution to enter an agreement for the property, currently owned by Triplets Realty LLC, was unanimously approved at the Jan. 28 meeting, which drew about 60 attendees. Resident Emily Link asked if the borough would help find resources for the current residents of the Oxford House as they move out. “There’s currently men living there who are going through rehab. And what’s important to people in re- hab is consistency, struc- ture and stability.”

Mayor Joseph Hemphill said the borough is “not put- ting any pressure” on them to close the deal by a certain date and that they will “give them time to vacate.” The borough is not rushing the deal through to have the men vacated, they said.

Lake also asked, if the purchase works out, could it help decrease the number of affordable units that are planned for the Carton Street project in the affordable housing plan. Hemphill said they would try. “We would try to lessen the density that has been set aside for Carton because of the comments that were made during the meeting. We care about that,” he said.

Kathlyn Johnson, an 18- year resident of Rumson who lives near the Oxford House, said she was looking forward to having new neighbors. “Eight years ago, my family was sitting eating dinner and was quite alarmed to find out that a young man had overdosed in the house across the street from us…weeks later, another man had overdosed at 5:30 in the morning. We were woken up by ambulance lights,” she said.

The existing Oxford House does not count toward the town’s affordable housing obligation, as it “takes people based on need, not necessarily based on income levels,” said Rogers. Additionally, in order to qualify for affordable housing, the property would need to be deed-restricted for 30 years and it is currently not deed-restricted. But if one of the existing tenants can qualify for affordable housing and wants to go through the process of applying, they are welcome to do so, he said.

Public comments about the South Ward property transitioned to talking about the overall affordable housing plan in Rumson. Several residents again expressed concern about what might happen in 2025 when municipalities have to meet the next round of affordable housing mandates.

Some even suggested that the town create an ordinance that would warn nearby residents of anyone’s plans to submit a contract to subdivide property in Rumson – whether it is or is not for affordable housing purposes.

That includes resident Maureen Saling, who said such an ordinance would “put the onus on the town or a developer to notify the adjacent property owners if there is a purchase of property with the intention that it be used as part of a scheme to build affordable housing but get four-times the market rate.”

Rogers said he thought the idea was interesting. “I don’t know of any other town who has done something like that. I think there’s a couple issues that we’d have to try to flush out with some attorneys to figure out if that’s even possible.”