TRENTON — A Christie administration official today put pressure on an Assembly committee to quickly pass new affordable housing legislation, saying a decision in a pending court case could derail five months of work on the bill. The bill, passed last week by the state Senate, would overhaul the way the state makes sure lower income people have access...
Lori Grifa, Department of Community Affairs Commissioner TRENTON — A Christie administration official today put pressure on an Assembly committee to quickly pass new affordable housing legislation, saying a decision in a pending court case could derail five months of work on the bill.
The bill, passed last week by the state Senate, would overhaul the way the state makes sure lower income people have access to housing throughout New Jersey, largely removing Trenton bureaucracy from the process. Municipalities and others sued the state in December over its current system, which sets quotas for how many affordable units towns must either build or encourage to be built.
The administration wants to see the legislation passed by June 30 – which is also the deadline for both the contested state budget and the date a year-long moratorium on fees on commercial builders is over, said Lori Grifa, commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.
The 2.5 percent fee on commercial development, put on hold last year during the recession to try to spur economic growth, would be permanently eliminated in the proposed bill (S1).
“The governor and I are concerned that further delay is unnecessary,” she said.
Affordable housing advocates and others said the complicated, 35-page bill needed more time. Builders, business representatives, environmental advocates and municipal representatives all said there needed to be clarifications and changes.
The committee chairman, Assemblyman Jerry Green, said Wednesday the committee would not vote today. Bills traditionally start in a committee and move on to the full legislative body for a vote. Any changes made by the Assembly would have to return to the Senate for another vote before going to the governor’s desk.
Previous coverage:
• No vote is planned as N.J. Assembly committee schedules hearing on affordable housing bill
• N.J. groups say abolishing affordable housing will further polarize towns into rich, poor
• N.J. Senate votes to abolish affordable-housing council, move control from state to towns