TRENTON, NJ - New affordable housing regulations adopted this summer will cost towns across the state an estimated $2 billion a year over the next decade to fulfill, according to a report issued by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services. The state aims to provide 115,000 additional affordable housing units by 2018 and has directed communities to contribute to the cause. Officials have said there's more than $848 million in annual public and private funds that can be used to help produce the extra housing units for low-income residents.
But even assuming all that funding can be accessed annually, the expanded affordable housing requirements might still cost another $2 billion a year, according to the research report. The report set its margin of error in the cost estimate at 50 percent. The OLS, which helps lawmakers analyze policy and legislation, reviewed the affordable housing funding issue at the request of the Senate Republicans' caucus. A number of Republican lawmakers have criticized the new affordable housing rules, saying they're based on flawed data and will lead to increased property taxes.
"This is a crushing burden on towns already reeling from the economic downturn," said Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman, R-Somerset, who has introduced a bill (S-2292) to rework the housing regulations. "The costs could be somewhat lower or even much higher than the estimate. Clearly, to towns now facing likely cuts in municipal aid, it doesn't matter. They simply can't afford this unfunded mandate."
Bateman and Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union, sent a letter to Gov. Jon S. Corzine Monday asking him to delay by six months the Dec. 31 deadline for towns to submit plans detailing how they intend to meet their new affordable housing obligations. Lesniak was one of the lawmakers who championed an affordable housing law that took effect in July but now says more changes are needed to accomplish true reform and speed up construction of affordable housing. The delay would give legislators more time to craft a better law, Lesniak said.
The letter followed recent, similar requests made by the New Jersey State League of Municipalities and Sierra Club of New Jersey to extend the deadline. Corzine's office referred questions about the senators' letter to the state Department of Community Affairs, which oversees affordable housing. Department spokesman Chris Donnelly said Commissioner Joseph Doria Jr. believes all interested parties must work together on the housing issue and welcomes input. "He appreciates the senators' concerns but stresses that further examination of the viability of these proposals is needed at this time," Donnelly said.
Advocacy groups such as the Fair Share Housing Center and the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey lambasted the senators' proposal, arguing the new regulations may need to be tweaked, but not overhauled. Fair Share Housing staff attorney Adam Gordon also questioned if Corzine can delay the deadline. "The deadline was set after a public process that included public comment," Gordon said. "The governor can't just reverse that." But Corzine set precedent when he signed a September executive order letting towns in the state's Highlands region extend their deadlines, countered William Dressel Jr., executive director of the League of Municipalities.
The League and Sierra Club, groups that often disagree on issues, agree in this instance that the new rules are based on a faulty methodology that exaggerates how much developable land municipalities have. Contrary to affordable housing advocates' claims, municipalities have only had since August to develop housing plans and the regulations are still in flux, Dressel said. Environmentalists fear this will lead to rushed plans that don't protect ecologically sensitive areas, said Jeff Tittel, executive director of the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter. "All that this demonstrates to me is that (state officials) know there are problems with these rules," Dressel said. "We need a time-out to rethink this housing policy."
Source: CourierPostOnline.com