WATSON COLEMAN / CRUZ-PEREZ / JASEY / EVANS / GUSCIORA / POU BILL ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS CLOSER TO BECOMING LAW

WATSON COLEMAN / CRUZ-PEREZ / JASEY / EVANS / GUSCIORA / POU BILL ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS CLOSER TO BECOMING LAW

(TRENTON) – Legislation to give counties the ability to establish grant programs to address homelessness is closer to becoming law. The bill (A-3101) is sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer) and Assembly members Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden), Mila Jasey (D-Essex), Elease Evans (D-Passaic), Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) and Nellie Pou (D-Passaic).

“The number of homeless, in New Jersey – especially women and children – is unacceptably high and may go even higher as more families face the very real and scary prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure,” Watson Coleman said. “State and local governments must work together to provide more funding and better services to provide access to affordable housing and ensure families have another option to living in a shelter or on the street.”

The measure passed the Assembly and Senate in June and now heads to the Governor. It would permit counties to create homeless prevention trust funds and establish grant programs to address homelessness. If the counties so choose, the trust funds would be financed through a document recording surcharge not to exceed $3 dollars per recorded document.

Money would be used for:

• the acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of housing projects or units within housing projects that supply permanent affordable housing for the homeless and those at risk of homelessness;

• rental assistance vouchers, including tenant and project based subsidies, for affordable housing projects or units within housing projects that provide permanent affordable housing for homeless persons or families, including those at risk of homelessness;

• supportive services as may be required by homeless individuals or families to obtain or maintain, or both, permanent affordable housing; and

• prevention services for at risk homeless individuals or families so that they can obtain and maintain permanent affordable housing.

Grants awarded by counties would be used to support projects that:

• measurably reduce homelessness;

• demonstrate government cost savings over time;

• employ evidence-based models;

• can be replicated in other counties;

• include an outcome measurement component;

• are consistent with the local homelessness housing plan; or

• fund the acquisition, construction or rehabilitation of projects that will serve homeless individuals or families for a period of at least 30 years or equal to the longest term of affordability required by other funding sources.

Funds not spent within four years would be transferred to the Department of Community Affairs to contract with a community based organization in the same county where the fund exists to help safeguard families from homelessness.

On the Net:

www.assemblydems.com

NJ Assembly Democrats on YouTube

NJ Assembly Democrats on Facebook

Sign up for NJ Assembly Dem e-mail alerts