About Home Reach
Home Reach is a free eligibility platform for Essex County, NJ residents. Enter your household profile once and see every affordable housing program, unit, and waitlist you qualify for. No more navigating dozens of government websites, PDFs, or dead links.
Meet the founder
Hi, I'm Oliver.
I'm a senior at Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, and I live in New York City. I built Home Reach because affordable housing has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. My grandmother spent 24 years as West Orange Township's Director of Planning and Development, and growing up around her work showed me how confusing and inaccessible housing programs can be for the people who need them most.
See more about my grandmother →
Eligibility rules for affordable housing are often scattered across different agencies, buried in PDFs, or just hard to find. Home Reach pulls that information into one place and gives Essex County residents a simple way to check what they might qualify for. No fees, no accounts, no fine print.
I'm still in high school, and I built this site on my own over the summer because I think everyone deserves a straightforward answer to “am I eligible?” If you have feedback, run into an issue, or just want to share your experience using the site, I'd genuinely love to hear from you.
Why we built this
The tools to help people find affordable housing never kept pace with the policy. New Jersey's official search tool, the NJ Housing Resource Center, launched in 2005 and operates primarily as a landlord posting registry. What's missing is an eligibility-first experience - where a family enters their household profile and sees every program they qualify for, along with every unit and waitlist.
In March 2024, New Jersey enacted A4/S50, the most significant overhaul of state affordable housing policy in decades. This triggered a decade of new construction across Essex County. The state's primary search tool was built in 2005. Home Reach is the attempt to close that gap.
The need in Essex County
residents across 22 municipalities
of households are renters; unusually high for a NJ county
of residents live below the federal poverty line (~115,000 people)
of residents live with severe housing problems: cost burden or overcrowding
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2024, HUD CHAS, Data USA
Our data sources
Every listing in Home Reach comes from a verified public source, and each one shows its source and last-verified date. We do not create or fabricate listings.
Housing directories
LowIncomeHousing.us
Affordable Housing Hub
PublicHousing.com
AffordableHousingOnline.com
HUDHouses.us
Program administrators & developers
Piazza & Associates (affordable-housing lottery administrator)
New Community Corporation
Region Nine Housing Corporation
National Church Residences
United Methodist Communities
Conifer Realty
Housing authorities
Newark, East Orange, Orange, and Irvington housing authorities
Municipal affordable-housing offices
Township and borough housing offices across Essex County (South Orange, Livingston, Maplewood, West Caldwell, and others)
Income limits
NJ Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA) — UHAC regional income limits
Data freshness
Every listing shows a last verified date. Availability and eligibility requirements change. Always confirm directly with the housing provider before applying. Home Reach is an informational tool, not a housing application portal.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or feedback? Email olivergolub@gmail.com.