Affordable Housing

Senator Steve Oroho, R-Sussex, Morris and Hunterdon, said he has appealed the Corzine administration's refusal to release a report on housing growth that was presented to the State Planning Commission in March. The study reportedly shows that the Council on Affordable Housing grossly overestimated how much so-called "affordable" housing is needed in New Jersey. Oroho filed his appeal with the New Jersey Government Records Council.

Our Communities, Our Schools, Our Taxes –

Not Trenton's and Not the Court's

The Senate voted 22-14 today to amend a bill sponsored by Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) that would permit developers to convert age-restricted units to non-age-restricted units as long as they set aside a portion of them for affordable housing.

By voting to concur with recommendations made by Gov. Jon S. Corzine in his conditional veto message, the Senate agreed to the Governor’s changes and amended the bill, which is now in position for a vote by the Senate. If approved, it will then have to be approved by the Assembly before being sent to the Governor for his signature.

An amended version of a bill sponsored by Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) that would permit developers to convert age-restricted units to non-age-restricted units as long as they set aside a portion of them for affordable housing was approved 22-14 today by the full Senate.

Under the terms of the bill (S-2577), for a developer to be eligible for conversion they would have to set aside a percentage of the units in the development, not to exceed 20 percent, for the provision of affordable housing. The changes were contained in a conditional veto by Gov. Jon S. Corzine.

New Jersey is in the ideal physical location to be the national economic leader among the states. It's not because of the public policies we have followed over the last eight years.

A bill sponsored by Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) that would permit developers to convert age-restricted units to non-age-restricted units as long as they set aside a portion of them for affordable housing was approved 21-14 today by the full Senate.

Under the terms of the bill (S-2577), for a developer to be eligible for conversion they would have to set aside a percentage of the units in the development, not to exceed 20 percent, for the provision of affordable housing.

TRENTON – Sen. Jeff Van Drew along with his Assembly colleagues is sponsoring an omnibus bill that would significantly change New Jersey’s affordable housing laws, making homes available to people who need them while giving towns more flexibility in meeting their housing obligations.

“It’s been more than three decades since the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel decision on exclusionary zoning,” Senator Van Drew said today. “It’s clear the laws that have been enacted in response to that decision been more successful in building a thicket of rules and regulations than in building affordable housing. Though created with the best of intentions, the system New Jersey has now doesn’t work nearly as well as it should. It’s time to fix it.”

TRENTON – A bill (S-2485) sponsored by Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak (D-Union) that would exempt certain non-residential development projects from a 2.5 percent fee to fund affordable housing was approved 12-0 today by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee.

Current law imposes a 2.5 percent non-residential development fee on certain projects to provide funding for the construction of affordable housing. The bill would exempt projects from the fee through July 2010.

Fed Correction of Job Data Is More Evidence That Data Is Faulty

Senator Phil Haines (R-8) issued the following statement today in response to today's testimony from Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joseph Doria: