52:27D-329.16 - Annual Strategic Housing Plan
52:27D-329.16 Annual Strategic Housing Plan.
27. a. It shall be the duty of the commission annually to prepare and adopt an Annual Strategic Housing Plan as set forth in this section.
The objectives of the plan shall be as follows:
(1)To ensure that quality housing for people of all income levels is made available throughout the State of New Jersey.
(2)To overcome the shortage of housing affordable to low, moderate, and middle income households, in order to ensure the viability of New Jersey's communities and maintain the State's economic strength.
(3)To meet the need for safe and accessible affordable housing and supportive services for people with disabilities.
(4)To foster a full range of quality housing choices for people of diverse incomes through mixed income development in urban areas and in locations appropriate for growth, including transit hubs and corridors, and areas of job concentration.
(5)To address the needs of communities that have been historically underserved and segregated due to barriers and trends in the housing market, and frame strategies to address the needs of those communities.
(6)To facilitate the preservation of existing affordable rental housing, including both subsidized and private market rental housing.
(7)To further the preservation of low and moderate income and middle income homeownership, including strategies to protect lower income homeowners from the loss of their homes through foreclosure.
b.In addressing these objectives, the plan shall explicitly take into consideration the needs of the following distinct populations:
(1)Households earning below 50% of the area median income, with particular emphasis on households earning less than 30% of the area median income;
(2)Low income senior citizens of 62 years of age or older;
(3)Low income persons with disabilities, including but not limited to physical disability, developmental disability, mental illness, co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorder, and HIV/AIDS;
(4)Homeless persons and families, and persons deemed at high risk of homelessness;
(5)Low and moderate income and middle income households unable to find housing near work or transportation;
(6)Low and moderate income and middle income persons and families in existing affordable housing that is at risk of becoming unaffordable or being lost for any reason;
(7)Any other part of the population that the commission finds to have significant housing needs, either Statewide or in particular areas of the State.
c.The plan shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1)The identification of all funds which any agency or department of the State controls and uses for housing construction, rehabilitation, preservation, operating or rental subsidies and supportive services, including bond proceeds, the allocation of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and the use of administrative funds by the agency or the department;
(2)Goals for the number and type of housing units to be constructed, rehabilitated, or preserved each year for the underserved populations identified in subsection b. of this section, taking into account realistic assessments of financial resources and delivery capacity survey, and shall include an assessment aimed at identifying and estimating the number of substandard housing units within the State;
(3)Specific recommendations for the manner in which all funds identified in paragraph (1) of this subsection should be prioritized and used, either through new construction, rehabilitation, preservation, rental subsidies, or other activities, to address the needs of the underserved populations set forth in subsection b. of this section;
(4)Specific actions needed to ensure the integrated use of State government resources that can be used to create or preserve affordable housing, provide supportive services, facilitate the use of housing for urban revitalization, and prevent homelessness, including an identification of the specific agencies and programs responsible for each action;
(5)An assessment of the State's performance during the preceding year;
(6)Recommendations for changes to any program or use of funds which the State controls available for land use planning, housing construction, rehabilitation, preservation, operating or rental subsidies and supportive services, including both procedural and substantive changes, and the specific agencies responsible for each change;
(7)Recommendations for State and local actions to promote the creation and preservation of subsidized affordable and market-rate housing by private sector, non-profit, and government agencies, with particular reference to changes to programs, regulations, and other activities that impede such activities;
(8)Recommendations for State and local actions for programs and strategies through which the provision of affordable and mixed-income housing can better further citywide and neighborhood revitalization in the State's urban areas; and
(9)Identification of strategies that local government can take to create or preserve affordable housing, including specific recommendations for the use of monies collected through developer fees in local housing development trust funds.
d.The plan shall provide for both annual and long-term targets and priorities.
L.2008, c.46, s.27.