Bradley Beach downtown. A park for the citizens and housing for most. Paul Goldfinger photo. 1/26/25. Click once to enlarge.
Paul Goldfinger MD, Blogfinger.net. Ocean Grove, NJ. USA
Where is the affordable housing in the Grove? How can young people, OG “Underground,” find a place to live in the Grove? How much will the new North End condos cost?
Who is looking out for the young families, workers, students, artists, singles, seniors, disabled and others who would like to live in our town?
The OG Community Association say that they are about quality of life for our “community” but how do they define “community,” and don’t expect the Neptuners to care.
It’s nearly impossible to find affordable efficiencies or one bedroom apartments in the Grove either for rent or to buy. And the small cottages are no longer affordable either.
But Bradley Beach has thought about affordable housing (see above) and they have a good supply. And keep an eye on the transformation of Memorial Drive. They place their citizens first, and tourism last.
Ocean Grove is a prime location with an ocean, a unique history, special architecture, nearness to 2 big cities and A. Park, but there is no diversity, and a large number of folks are over 60. There are no other towns like ours, and who will monitor our need for more affordable housing?
UPDATE: From the Asbury Park Press 2/6/25:
“Some 40% of Monmouth and Ocean County towns are pushing back against New Jersey’s newly calculated affordable housing obligations, a review by the Asbury Park Press has found, offering to build far fewer units than the state has assigned them or simply removing themselves from the program altogether.”
A Blogfinger review of this article reveals that Neptune Township is negotiating with the State over this issue, and Ocean Grove is not mentioned in the charts.
Affordable housing mandated for Neptune probably won’t pay attention to the Grove. But the “Association” formerly known as the “OGHOA” has removed all references to “homes” on their new and vaguely titled “Ocean Grove Community Association.”
At least their prior name made reference to a specific interest, but now they need to define what they mean by “community.”
So which OG entity will concern itself with our shortage of affordable housing?
And by the way, who is monitoring the demographics in our town besides the census? Such data is critical for planning the Grove’s future life styles.
KEELY SMITH: