Town abandons responsibility to provide needed affordable housing

I was saddened to read in the News Transcript that we of Manalapan have shirked our responsibilities toward the most vulnerable groups in our society — the poor, the widows, the orphans and the total strangers.

The headlines heralded the news that Manalapan will be relieved of providing 41 units of affordable or low-income housing by paying Hightstown $820,000.

I’m sure that the Township Committee did the math and concluded that it’s economically beneficial to buy "them" out for $20,000 per unit rather than address their needs.

In doing so, we have taken the burden of social responsibility off our backs and laid it squarely on the shoulders of our sisters and brothers in our neighboring community of Hightstown in Mercer County.

Members of the Township Committee, we are talking about only 41 housing units.

It has been said that you can judge the quality of the faith in the people by observing the character of justice in their land — and that the character of the justice in their land is to be judged by how they treat the most vulnerable groups in their society, namely, the poor, the widows, the orphans and total strangers.

When we exclude "affordable housing" from our community, what does this say about us?

What message does it send to our children, our friends, our neighbors and our country?

What does it say about those who vote to exclude affordable housing from Manalapan?

Manalapan Township Com-mittee, please pause for a moment.

Search your hearts for that hidden inspiration that I know will lead you to the right answer.

Some might label this inspiration "God’s doing" and others "your intuition."

No matter what you call it, I know that in the quiet of your heart you will reach the same conclusion that I have.

This resolution is wrong. It does not represent the values of Manalapan. Turn back this resolution.

Rather than shirk our responsibilities, let’s meet them head on.

Let Manalapan become a model community for social justice.

In so doing, we will bring peace to our total being — even while we are surrounded by a larger world of turmoil.

Dennis Sassa

Manalapan