North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco calls it the “best kept political secret I’ve ever been involved with.”
When the township, as part of the North Bergen Renaissance Corporation, officially christened its new 104-unit senior citizen complex last week, Sacco knew that he could not tell Theresa Ferraro, the township’s public safety commissioner and chairwoman of the Housing Authority, that the complex was going to be named in her honor.
“She thought it was going to be named after me,” Sacco said. “She had no idea until we removed the canvas from the sign and it had her name on it.”
“I never expected it,” Ferraro said. “It was a great honor. I’m not the crying type, but when they revealed the sign, I definitely had tears in my eyes.”
Sacco said the honor was well deserved for a woman who has spent nearly 30 years working to find affordable housing for senior citizens.
“It’s a fitting tribute to have the building named after her,” Sacco said. “She has been with the Housing Authority since the 70s and has put a lot of time and effort into helping seniors.”
Ferraro was first appointed to the Housing Authority in 1973 and was elected chairwoman in 1984. She has maintained those positions even after being elected to the Board of Commissioners in 1999.
The Theresa V. Ferraro Senior Housing Complex, located at 62nd Street and Granton Avenue, is a 12-story, 104-unit building geared to house low-income and disabled senior citizens.
“It’s a beautiful new facility that helps to fill a critical need in our community, providing high quality and very affordable senior housing,” Sacco said. “This is the culmination of an inventive way to secure the funding to build housing affordable to seniors without affecting the taxpayers of the township.”
The building was developed with the help of a very unique partnership, namely developer Albert Group of Fort Lee, which created federal tax credits, as well as a $1.5 million home grant from the Hudson County Improvement Authority an and a $15 million construction loan, repayable within the next 20 years. The North Bergen Renaissance Corporation, created by the North Bergen Housing Authority to seek out affordable housing for seniors, came up with the idea for the new building in 1997. The Renaissance Corporation will eventually pay off a $1 million mortgage through the collection of rents.
“One of the top priorities of our County Administration is to ensure our seniors can afford a place to call home,” said Hudson County Executive Bernard M. Hartnett, Jr. “It is important to keep affordable housing units on the market so our seniors can remain in the neighborhoods they’ve lived in all their lives.”
The 104-unit building, which has only 12 two-bedroom facilities, has about 150 seniors living there who qualified for the low-income standards. Seniors have to be at least 62 years old and have an annual income not exceeding approximately $19,000, or two seniors’ incomes not exceeding $21,000 total.
Each apartment contains a 196-square-foot bedroom – the two-bedroom units have a slightly smaller second bedroom – plus a kitchen with refrigerator and electric stove and individually controlled heating system. Tenants must provide their own air conditioning.
Rent at the Theresa V. Ferraro Senior Building is $396 per month for a single bedroom, and $467 for a two bedroom. Most of the units have been rented. Three units became vacant due to death. Two of those units have since been rented, leaving just one vacancy.
The new building includes a laundry room and community room, and will soon have an adult daycare center run by Rise and Shine for seniors who qualify. Seniors also will be able to catch North Bergen’s free shuttle right in front of the building, get blood pressure screenings and Meals on Wheels.