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On May 6, 2008, the Council on Affordable Housing also proposed amendments to the recently adopted revised third round rules (N.J.A.C. 5:96 and N.J.A.C. 5:97) and the procedural rules for municipalities certified before January 25, 2007 (N.J.A.C. 5:95). The proposed rules are scheduled to be published in the NJ Register on June 16, 2008. Upon publication, written comments can be submitted [Email address: COAHmail #AT# dca.state.nj.us - replace #AT# with @ ] until August 15, 2008.

Full text of the proposed rules are available by clicking here.

To read the proposed growth share rules click here.

On April 9, President Bush signed into law the Second Chance Act of 2007. The Second Chance Act (H.R. 1593) will help transform lives and build safer communities by helping prisoners who are returning to society break cycles of crime and start new lives. For more details on the Second Chance Act click here. Because of the significant impact that prisoner reentry has and will continue to have in New Jersey, this is an important step that will not only address prisoner reentry but also assist in ending homelessness in New Jersey. The total cost according to the Congressional Budget Office would be $2 for every person in the country for budget years 2008-2012. This is a modest cost compared to the benefits.

For more information click here.

The Housing Partnership will be holding an important workshop on February 21st at 6:30 PM at the County College of Morris. Details are below. Click here for the registration form.

“The Proposed COAH Rule Changes: The Impact on Your Municipality”

Thursday, February 21, 2008 6:30p.m. - 9:00p.m.
County College of Morris
Center Grove Road at Route 10, Randolph, NJ 07869

Featured presenters:

Lucy Voorhoeve, Exec. Dir., Council on Affordable Housing

Edwin Schmierer, Esq., Mason, Griffin & Pierson, P.C.

Q & A Discussion will include the presenters and a panel of local planners.

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State Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria spoke at semi-annual meeting of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey about changes in the COAH rules.

“Under the new regulations, if a developer, for example, gains approval to erect 100 houses in wealthy Tewksbury in Hunterdon County, 20 of them must be affordable. If a developer constructs a 200-unit apartment building in Newark’s reviving Penn Station neighborhood, 40 must be affordable. COAH is expected to give preliminary approval to the new regulations Monday.”

In addition, “Doria said much of the money to finance Gov. Jon Corzine’s plan to erect 100,000 affordable units in 10 years will come from $168 million in builder fees that municipalities have been collecting and basically sitting on for as long as a decade.”

To read the full article in the Star-Ledger click here.

New Jersey Assembly members Roberts, Watson Coleman and Green have unveiled a 12 point plan to “will lead to the creation of greater affordable housing opportunities in New Jersey.”

To read the full plan click here.

The 12 proposals are:

* Abolish RCAs: End the reprehensible practice of allowing municipalities to duck their affordable housing responsibilities, but give urban communities new funding so they don’t have to rely on RCAs.

* 20-percent set aside for state projects: Establish a 20-percent affordable housing set aside for all state-assisted development projects — such Smart Growth Areas and Transit villages; state needs to lead by example.

* New Housing Trust Fund: Create a reconstituted state affordable housing umbrella fund with an expanded pool of revenue sources.

* Tax Credits: Make federal Low Income Tax Credits available to private developers; New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington, and California already do this.

* Increasing Access: Expand middle-income eligibility for affordable housing units and promote production of housing units for families earning less than 30 percent of the state’s median income.

* Utilizing school funding: Use school funding formula to award towns that provide affordable housing to low- and moderate-income students.

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In today’s Star-Ledger there was an op-ed by John Farmer, Jr. entitled “Sly tricks don’t equal real reform“. Mr. Farmer is a former New Jersey attorney general and was senior counsel to the 9/11 commission. He is now in private practice, and is an adjunct professor of national security law at Rutgers Law School.

His article makes the case for the failure of the so called reform process in NJ. He begins the article by referencing the classic Steve Martin routine in which he claims “you can be a millionaire and not pay taxes.” The punch line is that when Martin’s character is confronted by the IRS about not paying taxes his answer is I forgot.

Mr. Farmer sums up his frustration and what should be ours as well in his closing paragraph. “When that day comes, and a future generation asks why we failed to make the courageous decisions that would have avoided calamity, we may be left to remember Steve Martin’s millionaire. When finally confronted by the IRS about why he hadn’t paid any taxes, he replied, grinning sheepishly, “I forgot!”

The multiple problems that we face cannot be solved by saying we forgot or that we were selfish. We encourage our readers to read Mr. Farmer’s column.

This is an excerpt of his comments on affordable housing.

There are, however, signs of change.

There is no question, for instance, that New Jersey has faced a housing crisis for low- and moderate-income families for decades; this reality led to the infamous Mount Laurel series of Supreme Court decisions mandating the provision of low-income housing.

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Tags: affordable-housing, COAH, Ending Homelessness, James-Farmer, Jr., supporitve-housing, Supportive Housing

On October 25th, New Jersey’s Public Advocate released a report on COAH, Affordable Housing in New Jersey: Reviving the Promise that “outlines several specific policy approaches that COAH should take to facilitate the effective implementation of the constitutional right.” The report is well worth reading as the deadline of December 31, 2007, to redraft the rules so that they comply with the constitutional mandates of the  Mt. Laurel decisions.

To read the report click here. To read the press release from the Public Advocate click here.

The following is from the Public Advocates press release:

The report makes recommendations in several key areas that would help ensure that COAH accurately measures the true scope of the state’s affordable housing need:

The COAH rules must address the housing needs of those with very low incomes, and must require municipalities to meet the needs of these families in their affordable housing plans.  COAH defines low-income households as those earning less than 50 percent of median income, or approximately $32,000 per year.  Actual COAH income eligibility limits vary considerably based on region and family size.

The report states that the 2004 COAH rules will not create significant housing for families that earn less than 40 percent of median income because the rules allow towns to meet their affordable housing obligation while still excluding most of New Jersey’s low-income families.  About 580,000 households in the state have incomes less than 40 percent of the median income.

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Tags: affordable-housing, COAH, Ending Homelessness, Public-Advocate, Supportive Housing