A six-apartment housing development for veterans with disabilities in Mahwah has landed another round of county funding after construction costs climbed higher than expected. The Bergen County Board of Commissioners signed off on an additional $200,000 for the project at 109 Cedar Hill Avenue, pushing total county funding authorization to $450,000.
The commissioners approved the extra money on Wednesday, Oct. 7, according to Jersey Digs. Nouvelle Main Street Urban Renewal LLC, the company developing the project, requested the added funding after construction costs increased, the outlet reported. Mahwah officials cited higher construction expenses as the reason behind the request.
It's the second time this year that the project's funding ask has grown. Back in January, Mahwah officials backed increasing the project's request for federal HOME funding from $250,000 to $450,000, per the same account. The federal HOME program helps communities develop affordable housing for people and families who meet income requirements.
Six Furnished Units With a Preference for Veterans
Township documents describe the development as affordable rental housing with a preference for veterans, and the project is intended to provide affordable housing options for veterans with disabilities in Bergen County. A Mahwah municipal newsletter from May described the project as housing dedicated to households with disabled veterans.
Details from the Mahwah Planning Board's public hearing on the project, held April 28, 2025, fill in more of the picture. Minutes from that meeting, posted on the Mahwah Township website, describe a 100% affordable multifamily building with six one-bedroom units, all fully furnished and intended for single or couple occupancy rather than households with children. Nouvelle Main Street Urban Renewal LLC will own and manage the property, and the minutes note the building will not be limited to New Jersey residents. The building will not have an elevator, with ADA-accessible units located on the first level.
Officials have not announced final rents, an application opening date, a confirmed completion date or final eligibility requirements, including any possible residency restrictions, the development's status report indicates.
A Partnership Years in the Making
Nouvelle is working with Mahwah Township, Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Paterson and the New Jersey SOS Veterans Stakeholders Group on the development, the report notes. Local officials, veterans advocates and development representatives turned out for the project's groundbreaking ceremony on May 5, with Mahwah Mayor Jim Wysocki, several Township Council members and state Assemblyman Robert Auth among those in attendance.
Mahwah's broader plans also call for a separate four-bedroom group home at 111 Cedar Hill Road, though that project is not part of the six-apartment veterans housing development.
Part of a Statewide Push
The Mahwah project arrives amid a wider state effort to house veterans. New Jersey's Bringing Veterans Home initiative, launched in January 2025, has helped more than 2,000 veterans obtain permanent housing. Similar efforts have taken shape elsewhere in the region: Emerson Veterans Supportive Housing was planned as a permanent supportive housing community for homeless disabled veterans, featuring seven one-story duplexes comprising 14 one-bedroom apartments, according to a New Jersey Department of Community Affairs release.
Larger-scale veterans housing projects elsewhere show what's possible with more funding and land. In Newington, Connecticut, Victory Gardens is a 74-unit veterans housing development built on the VA Connecticut Healthcare System campus, combining 50 newly constructed units with 24 apartments created through adaptive reuse, according to Housing Finance. Roughly half of those apartments are handicapped accessible or adaptable. In Kansas City, the first phase of St. Michael's Veterans Center included 58 one-bedroom apartments, with a second phase expected to add 59 more units and 7,500 square feet of service and community space, the same outlet reported.
For now, Mahwah's six-unit project remains smaller in scale but no less significant to the veterans it's meant to serve. With county funding now authorized at $450,000 and construction costs behind the latest increase, the next milestones for residents to watch will be a completion timeline and word on when applications might open.
