newjerseynewsroom.com

Christie gave group 90 days to provide recommendations

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

The chairwoman of Gov. Chris Christie's Housing Opportunity Task Force Thursday said she wants to see the state get back to what she described as the basics of providing affordable housing in New Jersey.

Former state senator Marcia Karrow told the Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee in Trenton that the Council on Affordable Housing, which has handled the state's role in providing low- and moderate-income housing for 23 years, has become entangled in regulations and lawsuits and strayed from its intended role.

Gov. Chris Christie is considering abolishing COAH and Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Union), the committee's chairman, and the majority of people who appeared before the panel agreed that may have to happen.

"We are absolutely starting from ground zero on this committee,‘' Karrow said of the five-member task force. "We have an open mind and an open book on what the state needs. What is the definition of what is affordable? What is affordable housing stock? We are in a different place now, a totally different place now from where we were in 1985 (when the Legislature created COAH and the state fair housing law). We are looking at it from scratch, like nothing ever happened.''

Christie gave the task force 90 days to provide him recommendations on what the state's role should be, if any, in providing affordable housing. With Karrow on the task force are Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz, Morris Plains Mayor Frank Druetzler, Ira Oskowsky, former state Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency director, and Rutgers University Prof. James Hughes.

Karrow said she believes the state Supreme Court ruling that held every city and town has an obligation to provide affordable housing never intended for it to be used as a tool by developers to build on open space in suburbs and rural areas. She also said she can see a need for agreements that allow wealthier towns to sell their affordable housing mandates to poorer cities, an action currently banned under state law.

"Truly we know there are going to be changes,'' Karrow said. "None of us know what that's going to be but the Legislature and the governor are going to create changes.''

On Monday, the Senate Economic Growth Committee is prepared to approve a bill (S-1), sponsored Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union), the panel's chairman, which would abolish COAH and hold that 50 percent of New Jersey's municipalities -- some 283 cities and towns -- have met their affordable housing obligations. A similar bill (A-2071) is pending in the Assembly.

Karrow said the task force has been meeting since Feb. 23 with state planners, Christie's affordable housing-related transition team, local officials, builders, environmentalists and representatives of the Pinelands and Highlands commissions. The panel will meet Fridaty with affordable housing advocates.

One of those advocates appeared before the Housing and Local Government Committee. They strongly oppose Lesniak's bill and the Assembly version.

"New Jersey needs more housing options for people of all backgrounds and incomes in strong, thriving communities near jobs and public transit," said Staci Berger, the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey director of policy and advocacy. "To make this happen, New Jersey needs a plan that links homes, jobs, transportation and environmental protection as pieces of a bigger picture for achieving sound, sustainable economic growth that secures New Jersey's future and benefits the entire state and all its residents."

Berger urged the committee not to go back to the narrow and failed approaches that led to the Mt. Laurel decision.

"Many members of this committee pushed our state forward with their strong and staunch support of the reforms contained in A-500, which is considered by national experts to be the most significant housing reform legislation in the last two decades," Berger said. "We hope that you will continue to stand by the principles that guided you in the efforts to pass that bill.

Assemblyman Green said the Assembly will review Lesniak‘s bill but noted that Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) intends to play a role in creating a version that moves in the lower house.

"If I am'being told by the governor that he is going to act and to act fast, it is obvious we want to give him something that he can be supportive of,'' Green said. The Assemblyman added, "I've talked to a lot of people with housing interests. Everyone feels COAH is not the answer. If COAH is not the answer, it is up to us to come up with a proposal that is fair to everyone.''

The New Jersey NAACP opposes the abolishment of COAH while the New Jersey Builders Association favors the action.

Irvington Mayor Wayne Smith told the committee that urban mayors are not opposed to the abolition of COAH and would not oppose the return of the arrangement that allows cities to accept housing money from the suburbs.

"We are not in opposition to the abolishment of COAH,'' Smith said. "The question is what replaces it? Where do we go from here? We certainly think the cities are the place for growth.''

Smith said the State Planning Commission could enforce the creation of affordable housing but wondered if an agency like the state Division of Civil Rights should also play a role to ensure all New Jerseyans have access to affordable housing where ever it is built.

East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov said, "All people who are rationally based have come to the conclusion that COAH is not workable. The system has to be a lot more simple, one that respects municipal planning, lessens the cost and burdens on municipal government and taxpayers and frees up money to construct housing rather than pay planners and lawyers.''

Mironov said revised affordable housing rules have to include recognition of towns that have met their affordable housing obligations.