In our spotlight on Business Report tonight.

Hundreds of Jersey City property owners are decrying what they call unethical deed restrictions on their homes, taking their complaints to city hall in the form of a protest recently pushing back on a resale formula they agreed to decades ago as part of an affordable housing program.

It allows them to recapture their original purchase price if they sell the home, but just 5% of any profit.

All while opponents say they continue to pay property taxes on homes that have skyrocketed in market value.

Raven Santana reports.

I refuse to give up.

I'm not giving you my house where I live for 30 years.

I love Jersey City.

I'm from this area.

This is where I plan to live and die because this is my home and I will not let no one take this away from me.

Homeowner Luisa Mantilla proudly has lived in thought she own this duplex home outright here on Johnson Ave for more than 30 years.

I was just happy that I accomplished that.

I worked hard my whole life.

It wasn't easy.

There was times it was tough to pay that mortgage.

The single mom bought the house right after her father passed back in June 1994.

So her mom, disabled brother and two kids could all live together.

Mantilla says she was looking forward to creating generational wealth for her children as she was the first person in her family to own a home.

It took us in the pool, in a room.

It was an assembly line, and we were told before that we didn't see any attorney.

They were like rushing us.

And they were saying, Here, sign here.

If you sell before 20 years, you have to sell it to someone in your situation.

But if you wait 20 years and you rent the other side too long income, then your house is free, clear of all restriction.

Those dreams changed to nightmares three years ago when she discovered that if she decided to sell her home, she would have to forfeit almost 100% of the profits.

And Luisa is not alone.

More than 100 Jersey City residents fall under what's called the 95 five deed restriction, an affordable housing program that limits how much homeowners can keep when selling their home.

I come across this restriction that we were never told about this 95 five rule.

I have never heard of it.

And if I sell my house today, the state wants 95 of my profit, which is ridiculous because I invested a lot of money into this house.

Josh Bauers is the director of Exclusionary zoning litigation for fair share Housing Center.

Power says the 95 five affordable housing program only applies to affordable housing constructed before 2001.

Residents can sell their home at the market rate after 20 years, but 95% of the difference goes to the municipality.

The seller keeps just 5%.

We want to make sure that we have deed restrictions in place so that way, you know, there is an opportunity to preserve the affordability controls at the end of the 30 years.

And in the event that the deed restrictions are going to end, that some of the funds are going to wind up going into the affordable housing trust fund for the municipality.

They're giving tax abatements to all these big businesses who are coming in.

They're getting the breaks, but the people who've been here working and maintained in this place are getting pushed out.

Because Franklin is the senior organizer with Jersey City Together, a broad based chapter of New Jersey together, which develops and strengthens and seeks justice for communities.

He joined a group who rallied at the steps of City Hall, calling on the mayor to push the city tax assessor to reassess their homes after many are struggling to now afford their taxes on top of a mortgage.

We need to get these folks these taxes done because that's the low hanging fruit to keep these people in their homes.

Then we need to do a bigger punch to make sure that we can tackle the recapture of the sales.

Right.

So this that's going to take more power.

Do we need the taxes?

Is that something the mayor can do?

Franklin says he has not heard back from Mayor Fulop and Mantilla now fear they may have to take their fight to court if they do not hear back from someone soon.

Bauers says any claims of not having enough information or willfully not giving the right information should be investigated to make sure it doesn't happen again.

In the meantime, Louisa says she now has to rent part of her duplex while competing with all the luxury rentals around her and hope she can stay afloat.

For NJ Spotlight News.

I'm Raven Santana.