The Cedar Crossing affordable housing condo complex. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Red Bank’s top affordable housing official said the financially troubled Cedar Crossing complex was moving toward fiscal stability last week while the mother of a resident gave officials an earful about the place still being a mismanaged “dump.”
The Problems at the 36-unit complex were 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. That has left the ten-year-old complex with large debt, no reserve fund, and a pattern of deferred maintenance, officials and residents say.
The problems got so bad that by late 2024 condo owners who wanted to sell their units were unable to because banks would not issue buyers mortgages for them. (see previous coverage below).
RED BANK: AFFORDABLE CONDOS’ MONEY WOES SHUT OUT BUYERS
In an interview last week, Lisa Hendricks Richardson, Executive Director of the Red Bank Housing Authority, told redbankgreen the financial outlook has gottten “much better” with owners in arrears put on payment plans, monthly maintenance fees increased and a harder line taken on residents who don’t pay on time.
“We’re getting significant repayments,” said Richardson, who took over as head of the agency in 2022, when the problems had already taken root. ” It’s significantly improved.”
But at Thursday’s meeting of the Mayor and Borough Council, the mother of one resident said problems are still so bad she’s considering a lawsuit.
“The funding did not just disappear it’s not just that, so I figure the only way we can get them to show receipts is by civil action,” said Eulanda LeGrande, (pictured below) who spoke during the public portion of Thursday’s meeting. 
LeGrande said she was speaking on behalf of her daughter, who owns condo in the complex, because as a retiree with deep experience in the social services field, she and her busy daughter agreed she would handle matters relating to the condo unit.
“The reason my daughter gave me proxy POA (power of attorney) is because she is totally disgusted with her living conditions,’’ LeGrande said. She said her daughter’s condo unit has problems with the foundation and mold.
LeGrande blamed mismanagement and a lack of oversight for the problems. She criticized management for being too lax in collecting maintenance payments year after year.
“This place is a dump and it didn’t take too long and that has to do with oversight,’’ she said.
Several members of the council said the borough is actively looking to help the Cedar Crossing Condominium Association and the RBHA to find solutions.
Borough Manager Jim Gant said he and other officials have held numerous meetings with the the RBHA, the condo association, the state Department of Community Affairs and the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency to find solutions. As least one of those solutions under consideration appears to be in infusion of money from the affordable housing trust fund to pay for an audit or address other needs. Money in the fund comes from fees paid by developers.
“The borough is committed to put funding toward the fix,” Gant said.
But Gant called any such move by the borough a “slippery slope” because the borough has no formal role in running the complex.
“They’re set up to be on their own, to be autonomous,” he said of the Cedar Crossing Codominium Association. “And they’ve come to us to help in whatever way we can and we’re just trying to navigate the way that we can help.”
In September, the Cedar Crossing Board of Trustees issued a letter to owners warning than any help from outside agencies made it all the more important that residents pay their condo association dues.
“If we receive help, and yet if some Unit Owners fail to pay their dues, we will wind up right back in the situation we find ourselves in, and these agencies that are now open to helping us will probably be reluctant to engage with us again,” the letter reads. “This is our opportunity to right the ship and stabilize Cedar Crossing, and no Unit Owner can be irresponsible. Therefore, if we receive funding assistance, the Board will take a much tougher stance on unpaid dues.:”
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.
At Thursday’s meeting Council member David Cassidy called the complex’s structure of owner-occupied units managed by a volunteer condo association made it a “one of a kind development in this state.”
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.
