Township on target to satisfy COAH

North Hanover Township approves Housing Element and Fair Share Plan

By: William Wichert
   NORTH HANOVER — The township has good news: There are more than enough low- and moderate-income houses to satisfy the state’s affordable housing requirements for the next nine years.
   That is one of the certainties to come out of the municipality’s Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, which the Township Committee unanimously approved at its Dec. 1 meeting.
   This document outlines the municipality’s plans to both meet the current and future demands set by the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) as well as its strategy to provide over $400,000 in financial assistance to low-income residents.
   "It’s basically paperwork that we’re doing. Everything is in order," said Deputy Mayor Bill Tilton, the municipality’s COAH manager, by phone on Monday. "We’ve met our requirements. We exceeded it."
   The plan, which still requires COAH approval, includes three components relating to the state’s newly adopted regulations, known as the third-round rules: existing housing requirements, future housing requirements, and a housing rehabilitation plan.
   According to the plan, the municipality has a previous obligation to build one unit and a projected obligation to build 25 units by 2014. Since the third-round rules require municipalities to provide one affordable housing unit for every eight market rate houses and for every 25 new jobs, North Hanover expects an increase of 160 market rate houses and about 125 new jobs over the next nine years, the plan states.
   These 26 units worth of current and future housing obligations, however, would be covered by 128 existing units in three separate apartments complexes within the township, according to the plan.
   These units would provide for a 2-to-1 rental bonus and a COAH credit of 256 units, the plan states. Once the current and projected obligations are added to the mix, the municipality would still have a surplus of 230 units, according to the plan.
   The township’s rehabilitation plan would be divided between two programs aimed at distributing money from the municipality’s affordable housing trust fund: a home repair program and a refrigerator replacement program.
   After several years spent amassing trust fund money without a built-in system to distribute the funds for home repair funds, township officials decided to place the program in the hands of RehabCo, Inc., a private firm that specializes in such programs.
   "I thought the best way would be to hire a third party to deal with that," said Mr. Tilton, adding that municipal employees are not very familiar with all COAH requirements, and should not have access to residents’ financial information.
   RehabCo, Inc. would review applications made by residents, and then supervise the rehabilitation work being conducted. The township would then spend about $13,785, including $2,000 in the firm’s fees, on each qualified low- and moderate-income house for a total of $259,194.
   These repairs would cover six of the eight units that the township is required to rehabilitate by 2014, and rehabilitate an additional 13 units. The remaining two required units would be accounted for by two previous rehabilitations conducted by the township in 2000.
   These funds can go toward the rehabilitation of a "deficient housing unit," where a major system is in need of repair, according to COAH regulations. To qualify for such repairs, maximum annual household incomes must be $31,990 for moderate-income residents and $19,994 for low-income residents, the Fair Share Plan states.
   In the refrigerator replacement program, the township would spend about $155,513 in trust fund money to replace refrigerators in three apartment buildings, the Millstream North, Millstream South, and the Maplewood Apartment complexes. The municipality would dedicate $8,200 each year to benefit eight rental units.