A leasing agent at Ocean Gate in Long Branch allegedly told a prospective tenant that the complex did not accept Section 8 vouchers, setting off a civil rights complaint that now lands with the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights. Housing Rights Initiative said the refusal came at a property once managed by Greystar and that it violated state fair housing law.
The complaint was filed July 14, and it comes from a group that says it has documented more than 100 alleged civil rights violations in six states and Washington, D.C. In the recording provided to the Asbury Park Press, the prospective tenant called on Jan. 15, 2026 to ask about rent, utilities and other application requirements before raising Section 8, which the federal Housing Choice Voucher program uses as its name.
That program helps very low-income families, veterans and seniors pay rent, and New Jersey bars discrimination based on the source of lawful rent payments, including vouchers. At Ocean Gate, a 170-unit two-building complex on Ocean Boulevard, a one-bedroom apartment was listed for more than $3,075 a month, underscoring how much those subsidies matter for tenants trying to find a place they can actually afford.
The dispute is complicated by the property’s changing status. Ocean Gate opened in 2023, was sold to Lincoln Equities in May 2025 for $113 million, and Greystar no longer manages it; the development’s name has since been changed to Light House, and part of the complex is being converted to condominiums. That leaves an open question about the timing of the alleged refusal and who was responsible for the response when the call was made.
Housing Rights Initiative says the words themselves show unlawful discrimination. Aaron Carr said a landlord should never say, “we do not accept Section 8,” in a state where refusing voucher holders is prohibited. Greystar, for its part, said it remains committed to fair housing practices in everything it does.
The state complaint now puts the matter in the hands of the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights, which will have to sort out whether a leasing conversation at Ocean Gate was an isolated misstep or part of a wider pattern tied to Greystar properties in Long Branch, Weehawken and Jersey City. The answer will matter well beyond one apartment complex because New Jersey has only 34 affordable homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households, and voucher holders have few places to turn when a door closes before they can even apply.
