52:27D-329.11 - Findings relative to strategic housing plan
52:27D-329.11 Findings relative to strategic housing plan.
22.The Legislature finds that:
a.High housing prices, escalating property taxes, increasing municipal fees, rising energy costs, and the costs to implement various State rules and regulations have put housing out of the reach of many citizens;
b.The State of New Jersey suffers from a serious lack of housing affordable to its low and moderate income households, reflected in the large number of households living in overcrowded and substandard housing conditions, or burdened by unreasonable and excessive housing costs;
c.As housing costs have increased in many parts of the State, and the process of urban revitalization has taken hold in many of the State's cities, these problems have become more severe and have come to affect a wide range of households at many income levels;
d.While new housing affordable to households at all income levels is urgently needed, the need to preserve existing housing owned or rented by low and moderate income households, much of which is at risk of loss, is also urgent;
e.The production of new housing and the preservation of the existing housing stock, including but not limited to subsidized affordable housing, has a significant positive impact on the health and well-being of the State as a whole, in particular its older cities and their neighborhoods, and should be encouraged as a matter of public policy by the State government;
f.Although the State has devoted substantial public resources for many years towards alleviating the housing needs of lower income households, the effective use of those resources and their impact on urban revitalization has been limited by inadequate strategic planning in the allocation of public resources, as well as inadequate coordination with and leveraging of private resources;
g.The development of a strategic housing plan that will establish priorities to effectively targeted State resources should significantly enhance the impact of those resources in meeting the State's housing needs and fostering urban revitalization;
h.A strategic housing plan should provide for a means of coordinating the activities of the many State departments and agencies whose activities affect the ability of the State to meet its housing needs;
i.The active involvement of individuals outside State government with knowledge and experience in all phases of housing preservation, development, and management, as well as planning and urban revitalization, in the preparation and adoption of the plan, and the monitoring of State activities pursuant to the plan, should significantly enhance the value and effectiveness of the plan in increasing the State's ability to meet its housing needs and foster urban revitalization.
L.2008, c.46, s.22.