By Emily Schopfer
RUMSON – The Borough Hall Neighborhood project, also known as 15B Maplewood, has officially wrapped up construction and is slated to be move-in ready by Oct. 1. The four-bedroom unit will provide housing to four low-income young adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
A small ceremony was held July 21 to mark the completion, with Rumson Mayor Joseph K. Hemphill, members of the borough council, other borough officials and representatives of the project’s develop- ment and service-provider teams among those in attendance, the mayor said.
The borough also shared a virtual tour of the new home as part of Rumson’s Affordable Housing Program Video Series, available for viewing on the borough’s website. Tom Toronto, president of Ber- gen County’s United Way (BCUW), led the virtual tour.
The borough is working with BCUW for this project as well as on three other affordable housing projects.
The two-story shared home has a common living and dining area, an outdoor porch and plenty of open space and natural light. “The support staff for the four female residents who will live here will assist them in meal preparation,” Toronto said.
The four residents have already been selected, but the borough did not participate in the selection process, according to Hemphill. “That process is conducted collaboratively by the home service provider, Fordham-Lewis Consulting, and the New Jersey Division of Developmental Disabilities in accordance with the state’s applicable eligibility and placement requirements,” he said.
Residents will have an on-site washer and dryer, private bedrooms with full closets, and shared bathrooms with a wheelchair-accessible shower. “Everyone who will live here right now is ambulatory,” Toronto said, “but the idea is for folks to be able to age in place.”
The home is two stories, with two of the four bedrooms on the second floor. “In addition to complying with all applicable Rumson building codes, the home was constructed in accordance with the state of New Jersey’s applicable design, accessibility and safety guidelines for group homes,”
Hemphill said. “These standards address features including counter heights, bathroom turning radiuses, the width of hallways and doorways, window heights, emergency ingress and egress requirements, and a full fire-suppression system.”
There will also be an office and half bath for the support staff, who will be present with residents during the day to assist with meal preparation and other tasks. The staff will not reside in the home.
MEETING HOUSING GOALS
Although a step toward fulfilling housing obligations, these four units provided by the Maplewood project satisfy less than 10% of the borough’s overall Realistic Development Potential for New Jersey’s fourth-round of affordable housing.
Under New Jersey’s Mount Laurel Doctrine and the Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, Rumson has a prospective need of 117 affordable housing units. The borough’s obligation up to 1999 was 268 units, and its third-round obligation (1999-2025) was 335 units. The borough’s total obligation of 603 units was later amended through a Vacant Land Adjustment (VLA), “resulting in a combined prior round and third-round Realistic Development Potential (RDP) of 50 and an unmet need of 553,” according to a Fourth Round Consent Order Final Compliance Certification dated April 25, 2026.
An unmet need in affordable housing refers to the gap between the prospective need of the community and what the municipality can realistically produce given resources, vacant land or infrastructure – the RDP.
Rumson’s affordable housing plan is aimed at providing “diverse housing options including supportive and special needs housing, family rental housing, senior rental housing and family for-sale housing,” according to part one of the borough’s affordable housing video series.
Due to limited vacant land in Rumson, the current four affordable housing projects are working to integrate affordable units into the existing community, “promoting socioeconomic diversity” while also focusing on placing these units close to shopping, public transit, schools and parks, according to the video series.
The borough partnered with BCUW, based in Paramus, for all four housing projects. BCUW is part of the larger international nonprofit United Way, which has over a thousand independent chapters across the U.S.
When asked, Hemphill said the borough chose to partner with the Bergen County chapter rather than United Way of Mon- mouth and Ocean Counties “because of the organization’s specialized experience in developing high-quality affordable and supportive housing for families, seniors, veterans and individuals with intellectual, developmental or physical disabilities.”
He said that BCUW and Madeline Housing Partners “worked with the borough’s elected officials and professional team on the 15B Maplewood Avenue project, and also has two more projects to complete in fulfillment of its partnership with the borough.”
The Oceanic River Road Neighborhood project, a 12-unit residential development, is one of the two ongoing housing projects and was awarded $3 million by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs in January. The Piping Rock Park Neighborhood project, a 12-unit senior residential development, is also ongoing. The completed West Park Neighborhood project provided two three-bedroom units to the community.
This article originally appeared in the August 20-26, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
