Facing eviction in New Jersey? This housing hotline offers free support to help you figure out your next steps.

Homelessness in Essex County, N.J. increased by 54% percent from 2023 to 2024 with eviction as the second leading cause, according to a report from Monarch Housing, a housing development nonprofit.

Evictions remain the top concern for people seeking housing support in Newark, where more than 75% of residents are renters, according to Shavani Hurry, a housing justice policy lead and program manager at Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC), a community-based organization.

Hurry said residents are stuck in a tough spot. They say, “We can’t afford the rent, and we also can’t afford to leave.”

In 2024, ICC launched a community-run housing hotline to connect residents with housing resources, including tenant rights, legal support, and shelter services. Since its launch, the organization has served more than 200 residents across the state with housing assistance.

REQUEST A CALL: Submit a request for service to ICC’s eviction prevention hotline

How the hotline works

Complete a short form

The first step to receiving assistance from ICC’s housing team is filling out this short intake form. Here is the information you’ll need to provide: 

• Contact information, including your name, address, and phone number.
• What language you need assistance in.
• A short description of what you need help with.

After you complete the form, a housing justice advocate from ICC will call you by the end of the business day.

Or call with a request for support

You can also call with this information by reaching ICC’s housing hotline at (908) 316-7899.

What to expect

Hurry said that the long-term goal of the hotline is not just to provide emergency services but to foster knowledge building that residents can carry on and share with others for years. 

“We’re empowering tenants with knowledge about their rights – information that, in many cases, can prevent evictions and help them remain in their homes.”

Hotline calls help people understand their housing rights, such as the right to habitable housing or understanding one’s lease. Hurry says “[landlords] often bypass the courts to carry out illegal evictions” of tenants who don’t understand their rights.

The hotline is staffed by bilingual English and Spanish speakers, and ICC works with other service organizations to provide additional language assistance for anyone who may need it.

“We never turn anyone away based off translation issues,” said Hurry.

Hazel Applewhite, CEO of Ironbound Community Corporation, says that she hopes the hotline is an entry point for residents to connect their housing challenges to other issues, like their environment and schools.

“From our standpoint, environmental justice is housing justice, right?” said Applewhite. “Having parks is part of housing justice. Having clean air is part of housing justice.”

Hurry encourages clients that while eviction challenges can take some time, ICC will remain a resource available to them.

“[The] housing justice hotline will support you throughout the process, and typically, that will take months for us to resolve one eviction case,” said Hurry. “[But] it doesn’t matter if it’s ten calls, five calls, twenty calls… you will always receive a call back.”

Why use the hotline

Hurry said the lack of municipal assistance compounds the issue of unlawful evictions.

“Even when the courts are involved, they are unfortunately backed up and unequipped to handle the amount of eviction cases that they are receiving,” she said.

A 2024 study by Volunteer Lawyers for Justice, Rutgers Law School, Seton Hall Law School, and Lowenstein Center for the Public Interest showed that more than two-thirds of eviction complaints filed by landlords in New Jersey had at least one legal deficiency. However, most residents self-represent themselves during an eviction case and do not have a lawyer to identify the issues that could get their eviction cases thrown out. 

The study also highlighted other concerns in eviction proceedings. For instance, while New Jersey is required to set eviction trials no sooner than five weeks after notifying the tenant of a trial date, 20% of cases in Essex County failed to give tenants the full five week’s notice.

Hurry says she is hopeful that initiatives like the housing justice hotline can help combat residents facing unfair evictions.

“The more people that we have that know about their rights, the [more] powerful we are together,” she said.

Learn more

Are you looking for additional housing assistance? Here are a few nonprofit organizations that offer eviction prevention services in Essex County.

Legal assistance is available at Essex-Newark Legal Services and Volunteer Lawyers for Justice.

Tenant counseling and eviction prevention services are available at Ironbound Community Corporation, Newark Community Solutions, and Urban League of Essex County. Contact each organization to learn more.

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