The Cedar Crossing affordable housing condo complex (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
The three townhomes for sale at Red Bank’s Cedar Crossing affordable housing development seem like a potential godsend for a working-class family looking for a home amid a nationwide affordable housing shortage: one three-bedroom and a pair of two-bedroom units in a great town ranging in price from $138,000 to $231,000.
There’s just two catches.
First, you have to qualify as low-income.
And, even though you’re low income, you probably have to pay cash.
A screen grab from the New Jersey Housing Mortgage Finance Agency’s web site for one of the two units in foreclosure. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
If those two qualifiers appear to be in conflict, that likely explains why two of the units, both foreclosures, have sat empty for a half decade with apparently no nibbles.
And the third?
Well, the owners have listed it for sale but say finding a buyer has so far proven impossible.
The problem: lending agencies that typically serve low-income buyers through the New Jersey Mortgage Finance Housing Agency will not issue mortgages for properties at Cedar Crossing, citing financial problems like debt and a lack of reserve funds for maintenance, officials say.
It’s left a 36-unit development once heralded as a beacon in Red Bank’s efforts to provide more affordable housing for residents at least partially failing at its mission.
For Nathalia Schmidt-Muller and her husband Michael Muller, it’s left them stuck in their townhome despite the fact that their income has risen significantly since Muller bought the unit in 2016, and the couple now find themselves well out of the economic cohort for whom it was built. They have listed their unit for sale, but no buyers have come forward.
“It’s bad for us because we want a bigger house,’’ said Nathalia Schmidt-Mueler. “And it’s bad for people who actually need affordable housing. Because we are taking a spot, we are occupying a house that we don’t actually need any more.”
The problem, officials say, was created by the failure of a portion of homeowners to pay monthly maintenance fees collected by the Red Bank Housing Authority, which manages the complex.
Minutes from the Cedar Crossing Board of Trustees’ October 2023 meeting indicate as many as ten homeowners may had been in arrears for monthly association dues at the time.
The failure to pay has left the ten-year-old complex with “large debt and no reserve funds (until this year)” according to minutes from the May meeting of the RBHA.
Like the Schmidt-Mullers, multiple residents at the October meeting discussed concerns that their homes could not be sold.
The listings for the three units on the NJHMFA web site include a notice saying they are not eligible for a financing from a long list of programs to which low-income buyers typically turn for a mortgage.
“Conventional mortgage options may be limited due to the condominium and/or HOA not being currently approved by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for standard conventional mortgages,” it continues. “Interested buyers are encouraged to look for a Non-Warrantable Condo Mortgage, or a lender like a Credit Union that may offer specialty portfolio mortgages. Cash buyers are also permitted.”
Red Bank Housing Authority Executive Director Lisa Richardson said the agency is working with the NJMFHA and other agencies to get Cedar Crossing back on firm footing.
“The lifeline of any homeowner’s association is the full and timely payment of the required assessments by each owner,’” Richardson said an email in response to questions from redbankgreen. “Cedar Crossing Condominium Association (“CCCA”) has had a continued issue with the timely payment of assessments which has caused financial and operational challenges. However, the Association’s Board, through its property management agent, the Red Bank Housing Authority (“RBHA”), continues to provide the proper legal notices to delinquent homeowners and remains open to amicably resolving any arrears so long as it is in the best interest of the Cedar Crossing community.”
In December, the RBHA raised the monthly homeowners association fee from $150 to $175 per month to try and replenish the reserve funds. That sparked complaints from some residents that they were being asked to pay more to cover for homeowners who were still not paying at all, according to meeting minutes.
Richardson said RBHA and NJMFHA officials are hoping to meet again this month to address the issues.
The borough purchased the property for $2.4 million in 2007, mostly through state funding, to fulfill state affordable housing obligations. The Cedar Street complex was developed by the nonprofit Red Bank Affordable Housing Corporation and touted as the town’s most ambitious efforts to create affordable housing in decades.
In 2021, RBHA officials raised alarm and vowed legal action against a tenant who had been illegally subletting her unit and failing to pay upwards of $10,000 in maintenance fees.
More recently, the appointment of Cedar Crossing resident Melissa Moore to the RBHA sparked allegations of “partisan vengeance” from former chairwoman Memone Crystian, who was not re-appointed. But at least one Borough Council member, David Cassidy, said he felt it was important for Cedar Crossing residents to “have a voice” at the authority.
The two units currently in foreclosure are currently owned by the New Jersey Mortgage Finance Housing Agency, which oversees state affordable housing programs. Both have notices on the door (pictured below) which indicate they have been vacant since at least 2019. 
Schmidt-Mueller said they have repeatedly sought help from NJMFHA to find a solution to the problem of not being able to sell their home.
“Every time you ask a question to NJHMFA they just ignore emails, they don’t respond. When they respond, if we are lucky enough to get a response, they are very rude, they never know anything.”
Calls and emails to NJHMFA from redbankgreen were not returned.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
