Archive for December 18th, 2007

Proposed Affordable Housing Rules Released

Posted by Phil Morin on December 18, 2007

The New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (“COAH”) released proposed regulations on Monday which are intended to comply with the Appellate Division’s court order striking down a large portion of COAH’s earlier attempt at the “Third Round” rules. COAH has asked the Court to extend the deadline for adoption of the rules from the previously ordered deadline of December 31, 2007, to June of 2008.

For a copy of the proposed Third Round rules, go to the COAH home page.

According to COAH:

Consistent with the requirements of the Appellate Division decision, the rules update the affordable housing requirement for municipalities based on the latest available data. Below is a summary of the major changes:

Continuation of the growth share approach, with affordable housing need measured as a percentage of residential and non-residential growth from 2004 to 2018.
New ratios are 1 affordable unit among 5 units and 1 affordable unit for every 16 jobs (previously ratios were 1 among 9 units and 1 for every 25 jobs)
New affordable housing need for the state is 115,000 affordable units (an increase from 52,000 units in previous adoption).
Establishes payment in lieu standards (cost of constructing an affordable unit) averaging $161,000 per affordable unit
Regional Contribution Agreement amounts increased from $35,000 per unit to $67,000 to $80,000 per unit (by COAH region)
Development fees for new construction increased from 1% of equalized assessed value (EAV) for residential to 1 ½% of EAV and from 2% of EAV to 3% of EAV for non-residential
Municipalities may continue to require payments in lieu of non-residential developers pending adoption of legislation establishing a statewide development fee bank
Provides a compensatory benefit to developers for providing affordable housing of one additional market unit for every affordable unit constructed
Expanded compliance options for municipalities, including bonus credits for supportive and special needs housing, new credit for affordable housing in redevelopment areas, and optional plan phasing based on economic feasibility.
Returns to the previous age-restricted cap of 25% of total obligation
Proposed staggering schedule would require towns currently under COAH’s jurisdiction to submit revised third round plans between four and seven months after the effective date of the regulations, based on county.