After half a century of outward expansion during which families fled cities and put down rural roots, they’re moving back. That presents challenges for suburbs losing population and cities gaining people. It’s part of a Bloustein School report called “The Receding Metropolitan Perimeter: A New Post-Suburban Demographic Normal.” Author of the report and Dean of Rutgers Bloustein School of Public Policy James Hughes told NJTV News Anchor Mary Alice Williams that New Jersey needs to reinvent the suburbs to provide the equivalent of urban areas there.
Hughes said he thinks the state is going through the greatest age structure transformation in history and that it is driven by two specific population cohorts. He said one of those cohorts is aging baby boomers, which this year are between 50 and 68 years of age. He said at the other end is the younger population called the millennials who are in their 20s and early 30s. He said that both of those groups have different values. He said that baby boomers were the most suburban centric generation in history. He said the baby boomers’ children, the millennials, want 24/7 exciting living environments and do not want to be stuck in a plain vanilla suburb.
Hughes said that many of the baby boomers are rejecting suburban lifestyles which they have lived for more than half a century. He said that they are flocking to the Hudson River Waterfront, Jersey City, Hoboken or other types of urban environments where they can have walking environments, public transit and a lot of activities.
Communities with shrinking populations are facing declining school enrollments, which may not be bad since residents are not going to be burdened with soaring property taxes for educational needs, said Hughes. He said they are losing market power and that is ultimately going to be reflected in softer housing markets and softer retail and office markets.
Hughes said that the cost of housing is definitely going to go up in urban areas because there are going to be increasing pressures wherever populations want to be, and eventually housing prices rise.
“We have to reinvent our suburbs. We have to provide the equivalent of urban areas in the suburbs. Some of it is happening. We have environments like Montclair, which older millennials are favoring now, which is not quite a 24/7 living environment but it is much more exciting than traditional subdivision,” said Hughes. “We have Morristown, which we can consider a Hoboken West, that is becoming a magnet in suburban Morris County.”