I think that the affordable-housing problem in New Jersey has become so dire and become so widespread that we are seeing a broader group of people supporting this. The problem has become broader so the coalition has become broader.

We want to make affordable housing an issue in the 2005 gubernatorial race. And we want to hold policymakers and lawmakers responsible for needed changes to the law. We want results. This coalition is not going to go away after Nov. 8.

People tend to think of affordable housing as a problem that uniquely affects the poor and homeless. However, in the last five years . . . we're seeing this problem has spread to working-class people who are priced out of the market.

There is also a stigma about what affordable housing constitutes. They're high-quality projects that can be integrated in the neighborhood, and they service people we depend on: child-care workers, teachers, health-care workers.

Who seems most hideous when adorned the most.

When the devil grows old he turns hermit.