“What goes around, comes around.” 

“What once was old is now new.”       

I am sure we have all heard theses phrases before, so you won’t be surprised when I tell you that I am referring to issues revolving around Affordable Housing in New Jersey.

Yesterday I attended an open hearing of the Assembly Committee Housing.  The committee members were called together by chairman Benjie Wimberly (D. Passaic) to discuss the state of affordable housing and the complaints of several Towns about the burden that affordable housing will place on their towns.  This is the result of COAH not passing third round rules back in 2015, so the Towns have had to go to the Courts to resolve these issues.  Most have settled with Fair Share Housing and have had their affordable housing plans approved by the Courts, however with numbers that they still don’t like.  And so, a call for a return of COAH to administer these plans and settle these issues.

That would be all well and good, if COAH had been allowed to work as it originally was set up.  In the early days, the COAH board was a bi-partisan Board and would work with towns to discuss their affordable housing issues and ultimately arrive at a settlement.  However, the towns still railed against having to do their housing obligations, so then governor Christi’ sought to marginalize COAH to the point that it was no longer able to function.  Ultimately, The Supreme Court ruled that until COAH is reconstituted, Towns would have to have their housing plans certified by the courts.  So that is where we are today.

Settling through the Courts was always an option, however today it is the place of last resort, so that Towns now must finally settle, establish their plans and then help to get the construction done.  This is what they don’t like.  At yesterday’s hearing, I heard a lot of statements from the members of the committee, as well as from the mayors of many towns, of how they support affordable housing      however they are worried that they don’t have sufficient infrastructure within their towns, to manage this new growth.  They fear overbuilding of the town, overcrowding in their schools, and higher taxes.  All this really without having any new construction being built yet. 

So, this clearly is still a very big issue for towns in New Jersey.  We are yet to hear about the new Governor’s position on Affordable Housing.  Will the Governor re-institute COAH or a like body that will take up these issues and remove them from the courts.  Or will he allow the process to run its course, through the judicial system, ultimately having judges making the decisions as a Town’s      affordable housing plans.

My experience has been that even when COAH was an active body, some towns would still delay, and throw up barriers as to why they couldn’t comply with the law.  However, with the issues in the hands of the courts, Towns have been forced to settle and move on.  My recommendation would be to stay the course, allow the Courts to do their job, and settle these issues.  No longer are towns     allowed to get away with delay after delay, hoping for some governor or new legislature to change the law.  Given some time, we will begin to see new housing develop that will ease the burden of those who need it.  Finding decent and affordable housing should be something that we should all support.

Well it’s that time of year again, when the Governor and the State Legislature argue over the State Budget, which must be passed by June 30.  If not, then the government is supposed to shut down.

Now the Governor has said that he doesn’t want to pass a budget that doesn’t have a realistic forecast that shows that the revenue to support the budget will indeed come in.  He acknowledges that other governors have played games with the budget, often presenting very optimistic forecasts as to the amount of revenue that the State would generate, only to fall very short of that forecast,  thereby having a severe shortfall at the end of the year.   This is why he advocates for higher taxes which only further burden the citizens of New Jersey– A state that is the sixth most expensive state in which to live.

The opposition both from the Democrats and Republicans are urging some combination of tax cuts also with some tax increases.  The problem is that the Governor has laid out such ambitious goals and has promised increased spending almost across the board, that there doesn’t seem to be any amount of money sufficient to pay for his new programs.

Along with this scenario, is the fact that the Governor wants to confiscate the money which is still in the municipal housing trust fund accounts, to help balance his State budget.  These funds were raised as fees paid by for profit developers when they build commercial and market rate housing.  They cannot be used for anything else but affordable housing, however, in the past governors have taken similar monies from dedicated fund accounts.  Witness the gasoline tax, which was only    supposed to fund repairs to our roadways, but has often found itself being put into the general fund to balance the budget.  As a result, this past year, that tax was raised.

Furthermore, as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling with regard to COAH and the municipality’s affordable housing obligations, municipalities need those funds more than ever now, in order to fund their required housing needs.  Without these funds, towns could legitimately tell the court that they are unable to comply because the State has confiscated their housing trust funds.  These funds   survived the several attempts of the Christi Administration to scarf them up, so it would be a shame for the new Democratic governor to now arbitrarily do that now.

So, a call to action is needed.  Call you State lawmakers and tell them that you don’t want those funds put into the General Budget but to be used for what they were intended—and that is creating more affordable housing.