As mayors, lobbyists and state government officials packed a Trenton committee room for a hearing on a bill that would abolish the controversial Council on Affordable Housing, Assemblyman Jerry Green offered words of warning: Nobody, he said, will leave completely satisfied.
"This is the first step … No one in this room is going to be totally happy," said Green (D-Union), chairman of the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee.
He was proven right as witnesses across the ideological spectrum ripped into the bill. Gov. Chris Christie has pledged to veto the measure because it phases in a 2.5 percent fee on commercial development to help pay for affordable housing, last Wednesday calling it "the stupidest idea I’ve heard in a week." Nevertheless, the bill cleared the committee by a vote of 4-1, with one abstention, and now moves for a vote in the full Assembly. A Senate version that did not include the fee, supported by Christie, passed in June.
"If we eliminate the fee, where will we find the money (to pay for housing)?" Green said.
On Monday, business groups joined Christie in rallying against the development fee. On the other side, affordable housing advocates pointed to what they called a huge loophole: giving towns the option to zone 20 percent of their developable land to allow housing for people who make up to 150 percent of median income.
In Essex County, 150 percent of the median income for a family of four is $131,721, translating into a house worth $529,900, according to the Fair Share Housing Center.
"This bill conceivably could result in no affordable units," said Kevin Walsh, the center’s associate director.
The bill requires towns to make 10 percent of new development affordable — with some notable exceptions — instead of relying on a complicated formula overseen by Council on Affordable Housing. In her testimony, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Lori Grifa described the current system as "rigid, arcane and virtually unintelligible."
Municipalities with more than 50 percent of students eligible for free or reduced lunch would be exempt. Towns that already have 12 percent of their units as affordable housing or have 25 to 50 percent of students eligible for free or reduced lunch would be able to determine themselves whether or not to set the 10 percent affordable housing requirement.
Developers who do not set aside 10 percent of their units as affordable would pay the municipality 3.5 percent of the development’s cost. The state would require the town use that money for affordable housing.
"This is a reasonable compromise that ensures that towns will have a diverse housing stock," Green said.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/affordable_housing_bill_cleare.html
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