State Assembly eyeing affordable housing reforms

by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
   Proposed changes to state affordable housing regulations could have an impact on some area towns that have traditionally paid cities to build some of the state-required low- and moderate-income housing unit slated for the suburbs.
   On Nov. 13, state Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer), and Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union) introduced a 12-point plan to reform the state’s affordable housing program.
   The Assembly members say their plan will allow the state to meet Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s goal of creating 100,000 new affordable housing units statewide over the course of the next 10 years.
   Among the provisions is the banning of regional contribution agreements, which allow municipalities to pay urban communities to take up to half of their affordable housing obligations. Both Cranbury and Monroe have used the method, while South Brunswick has not.
   Critics of RCAs, including the Assembly leadership, argue that they perpetuate poverty by keeping people in the inner cities. They say that limiting the number of affordable housing units in suburban areas decreases the likelihood that people will be able to move out of poverty-stricken cities.
   Supporters of the RCAs say they bring much-needed money to urban areas and give suburban communities flexibility to deal with housing issues.
   To offset the loss of RCA funding to urban areas, the Assembly plan calls for state housing aid for urban areas and an increase in school funding for towns that experience a rise in school enrollment because they can no longer transfer their obligations.
   Other provisions include requiring that state-funded development projects set aside 20 percent of their housing units as affordable housing and requiring a one-to-one replacement of affordable housing lost to redevelopment projects.
   The state’s affordable housing program was created in 1985, after state Supreme Court decisions — Mount Laurel I and Mount Laurel II — that required all municipalities provide housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents. The 1985 Fair Housing Act created the state Council on Affordable Housing, which was given responsibility for determining and monitoring each town’s housing obligations. It also created the RCA option.
   Two previous rounds of affordable housing requirements have been completed and a third round awaits court review. A state appellate panel ruled in January that some of the new COAH rules — including those that allow municipalities to determine their own housing obligation and allow half their units to be age-restricted — were insufficient. The court set a Dec. 31 deadline for creation of a new plan.
   Should RCAs be eliminated, both Monroe and Cranbury will have to re-evaluate their strategies.
   ”RCA is something that we have utilized in the past,” Monroe Mayor Richard Pucci said. “We felt that RCAs were beneficial for our township, and for the urban areas as well. They allowed us to meet our responsibilities while providing cities with funds they needed for programs.”
   Mayor Pucci says transferring units out of Monroe benefited the township by reducing its housing obligation without burdening taxpayers, because developers paid the bulk of the cost as part of their agreements with the township.
   Under COAH’s second-round obligations Monroe was required to create 558 units of affordable housing. Of this, the township transferred 115 units to New Brunswick at a cost of $2.3 million, according to Helga Stoessler, Monroe’s affordable housing officer.
   Ms. Stoessler said that under the original third-round rules Monroe would have been responsible for 646 additional units. The township had negotiated a deal with Perth Amboy to transfer 200 units, at a cost of $7 million, she said.
   Mayor Pucci says that if RCAs are eliminated as part of the final draft of the housing rules, he hopes that considerations will be made for the logistics of adding these units.
   ”It is not as if you can just snap your fingers and these units are there,” he said.
   Cranbury also has used RCAs to meet its affordable housing responsibilities. The township’s current COAH requirement is 160 units. According to Township Committeeman Richard Stannard, Cranbury is nearing completion on a 20-unit affordable housing complex and has purchased a site on Route 130 that can hold 30 to 40 more units.
   Mr. Stannard said Cranbury reached an agreement with Perth Amboy for placing 80 affordable units there, half of Cranbury’s requirement. He says that the township paid Perth Amboy about $32,000 a unit, approximately $2.5 million.
   Mr. Stannard says that the elimination of RCAs could cause Cranbury to have account for 80 units in the township that it now sends out.
   ”That could impact out township in a very large way,” Mr. Stannard said. “When you have a small township like Cranbury a population increase like that could change the look and the character of the town.”
   South Brunswick officials say elimination of RCAs will not affect the township.
   Mayor Frank Gambatese says that South Brunswick has always met its affordable housing responsibilities without engaging in regional contribution agreements and will continue to do so in the future.
   ”We have always felt that having affordable housing in the township is a good thing,” he said. “It allows us to provide places to live for young people just starting out, and a lot of older people, as well. We have always done our best to meet our obligations.”
   According to Certified Municipal Housing Liaison Arlyne DeSena, South Brunswick’s requirement under the original third round is 603 units. She says township plans on keeping all of those units in town.
   ”South Brunswick has never sold anything,” Ms. DeSena said. “We have always felt the responsibility to keep the units in town.”