MANALAPAN — The Township Committee has passed a resolution in support of legislation that would reauthorize regional contribution agreements (RCAs) as part of New Jersey’s affordable housing program.
According to the resolution, which was passed at the committee’s June 11 meeting, RCAs were created in the original 1985 Fair Housing Act.
Under the act, municipalities with funds raised from developer fees or through bonding could transfer a portion of their affordable housing obligation to another municipality for the purpose of building affordable housing.
Some critics of RCAs contended that well-to-do municipalities used such agreements to avoid having housing built within their borders for individuals and families with low and moderate incomes.
Manalapan had used RCAs to fulfill a portion of its affordable housing obligation prior to RCAs being banned in 2008.
Recently, state Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon and Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (both R-Monmouth) have introduced legislation (A-3235) that would reauthorize RCAs between towns in the nine counties most affected by superstorm Sandy, including Monmouth County.
According to the resolution, the legislation will allow for the transfer of up to 50 percent of Manalapan’s fair share housing obligation to another municipality within a Sandy-impacted county by means of an RCA in order to meet its fair-share housing needs.
The bill would reauthorize RCAs to help facilitate the construction, reconstruction or rehabilitation of housing in areas hardest hit by superstorm Sandy, and give Manalapan the ability to put its affordable housing trust fund to work to create affordable housing and help towns continue to recover from the storm, according to the resolution.
The committee passed the resolution supporting the legislation that has been proposed by O’Scanlon and Handlin.
Committeeman Ryan Green said the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) recently introduced new rules and regulations pertaining to affordable housing that could eventually force municipal officials to permit the construction of more homes.
Building more homes “can affect our quality of life,” Green said.
A public hearing on the latest set of COAH rules was scheduled to be held in Trenton on July 2.