Mission Statement

Committed to Creating and Preserving Affordable Housing
The Housing Authority of Bergen County was established in 1964 with the goal of providing housing opportunities for low income families and older adults. Our main emphasis is the efficient management and maintenance of our affordable housing units and rental assistance programs. Almost all of the Authority’s programs and activities are funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Our initial years of operation focused on the housing needs of older adults and disabled persons. Over a ten-year period beginning in 1975, we developed or were involved in the development of almost 500 units of housing for this population in Dumont, East Rutherford, Lyndhurst, and Palisades Park.  The Authority is one of only a few developers who have been successful in developing multi-family rental housing for families with low and very-low incomes in Bergen County.

Lynn Bartlett
Executive Director
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In addition to our senior, disabled and family affordable housing developments, we also administer the largest Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher rental assistance program in the County, and one of the five largest in the State. This tenant based form of subsidy is targeted to assist the County’s most vulnerable populations: low income families, seniors, the disabled and those that are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. We presently assist over 3300 households in making the housing of their choice affordable to them.

HABC is well noted for being an exceptionally creative public housing authority (PHA).  We continue to step outside of the traditional understanding of a PHA.  In this way, we have been the contract manager for the Bergen County Housing Health and Human Services Center, Bergen County’s 90 bed emergency shelter, since its opening almost 10 years ago.  In this capacity, Authority staff were instrumental in utilizing all our resources and leading the efforts to mark Bergen County as the first in the nation to end chronic homelessness.  

Additionally, the HABC is the owner/operator of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior Citizen Activity Center in Hackensack.  This role showcases the Authority’s commitment to not only housing an aging population but provide for their socialization and nutrition within their community.

The Housing Authority of Bergen County is an extremely active and successful public housing agency.  We are exceptionally proud of our past accomplishments and continue be creative in developing programs that create a continuum of assistance with the goal to help those struggling with housing affordability, at any level, while providing housing opportunities for all with the ultimate goal of family self-sufficiency.