Township plans to add affordable housing units
$490K state grant
to be used to renovate
nine-unit dwelling
BY TARA PETERSEN
Staff Writer
MILLSTONE — The township now has $490,000 more to be used toward affordable housing.
The Division of Housing in the state Department of Community Affairs had $1.9 million available to give to communities throughout the state, according to Kerri Danskin, communications director for Assemblymen Robert Morgan and Michael Panter (D-12).
The money was distributed based on need, and the amount of affordable housing that already exists in the given community, Morgan said last week.
"[This grant] is about making new units of affordable housing available in Millstone," he added.
The $490,000 state grant was given to the Monmouth County Housing Alliance, but the money will be used to rehabilitate the Cainwright House, according to James Pickering, township business administrator.
The alliance is a nonprofit organization that develops and manages affordable housing.
The Cainwright House is an nine-unit dwelling on Burnt Tavern Road, said Pickering.
"We bought the property and leased it to the Monmouth County Housing Alliance for 50 years," he added.
Both the Cainwright and Novad houses are in need of renovation, according to Mayor Nancy Grbelja.
Pickering said that in order to determine each community’s obligation for affordable housing, the state uses a complex formula based on the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) Mount Laurel decision.
Millstone Township has 84 affordable units, including 46 units that were credited through a transfer agreement with Asbury Park. The township pays $20,000 per unit to Asbury Park, according to Pickering.
After certain credits are taken into account, the township is at a three-unit surplus, Pickering said.
Even though the township has more than met its obligation, "there is still an unmet need," according to Morgan.
"Monmouth County as a whole is among the wealthiest counties in the nation, but many working families can’t afford to live in our communities. There is a tremendous amount of poverty in our rural and suburban areas," Morgan stated. "Affordable housing is a crisis throughout New Jersey."
Morgan said that the need is much greater than most people realize.
"According to the 2000 Census, more families are on public assistance in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined than there are [families on public assistance] in the city of Newark," he stated.
Morgan added that each community has a formula to determine what constitutes affordable housing.
Pickering said that the township’s definition is "any housing unit with an acquisition price or rent level not exceeding the maximum resale or rent level for low and moderate income housing as set forth in NJAC 5:93-7.4."
This chapter of the affordable housing law requires that rent and sale prices be no greater than a certain percentage of the gross income published by COAH for the household size and type.
For example, the 2002 income limits for Mercer, Monmouth and Ocean counties for a 1.5-person household were $42,516 for moderate income and $26,573 for low income.
One-bedroom units must be affordable to 1.5-person households; two-bedroom units to three-person households; and three-bedroom units to 4.5-person households.
In order to update its obligation, according to Pickering, the township must reapply to COAH every few years and is currently in the process of reapplying, which must be completed in August.