Housing Services
"Your Needs Are Our Concern"
HOUSING COUNSELING SERVICES
Through counseling and referrals to community resources, MCDSS Social Workers assist clients with their housing problems/housing crisis. As a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Certified Housing Counseling Agency, MCDSS staff provide pre-purchase mortgage counseling, post-purchase counseling, default and delinquency counseling, loss mitigation counseling, home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) counseling, and landlord-tenant counseling.
Services are provided to tenants, landlords, potential home buyers, persons with mortgage default and persons interested in reverse equity counseling.
EMERGENCY HOME REPAIR / BARRIER FREE PROGRAM
This program is designed to help low income homeowners with home repair emergencies. The purpose is two-fold: 1) to remedy health/safety code violations and 2) to maintain the housing stock in Monmouth County. Additional services are provided to those individuals who need to have their home or apartment modified, making it more accessible to their physical limitations.
This program is administered by MCDSS.
MONMOUTH COUNTY PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY (MCPHA)
The Monmouth County Public Housing Agency, as part part of the Monmouth County Division of Social Services, has been authorized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide rent subsidies to Monmouth County Residents. MCDSS is proud to be the only county welfare agency in the state to be designated as a public housing agency.
The MCPHA provides HUD-funded rent subsidies including Section 8 Vouchers, Mainstream (disabled), HOPWA (AIDS), Shelter Plus Care programs for AIDS and Co-Occuring Disorders, welfare to work housing vouchers (post-welfare) Family Unification (DYFS), and HOME subsidies (mental health clients and seniors). The agency provides case management services to the programs identified, and provides tenants the opportunity to participate in the Family Self-Sufficiency Program (FSS). FSS is a five-year mutual contract to enhance personal and marketable skills and to increase household income. Successful participants develop an escrow account. The MCPHA also offers limited mortgage subsidies. Although a waiting list exists because demand is high for this program, the list is opened periodically.
MCPHA is located within the Monmouth County Division of Social Services. Some towns also maintain their own Public Housing Authorities.
HOMELESS SERVICES
Rents in Monmouth County are extremely high and the available rental units are very low. The two Emergency Assistance units of MCDSS provide: intake/screening, placement services, liaison services to transitional housing sites/shelters and rooming/boarding homes, housing search assistance, Temporary Rental Assistance (TRA), extended services to the chronically ill/impaired through the Long Term Support Program (LTSP), and links to Substance Abuse Initiative (SAI) and the Legal Service SSI Initiative. The service populations are TANF, GA, and SSI eligibles. Persons with low income who are not eligible for these programs may qualify for the county funded Emergency Family Shelter Program (EFSP). Call 732-431-6039 for more information.
Monmouth County Division of Social Services provides an after-hours number for housing-related emergencies. The number is 732-431-6000.
www.njhousing.gov
The State of New Jersey updates this site regularly with rentals statewide. The site is for property owners and consumers. A special feature of the site is housing information for persons with disabilities.