Directs COAH to adopt regulations to require municipalities to prioritize current residents in affordable housing applications.

A1587

ASSEMBLY, No. 1587

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman SEAN T. KEAN

District 30 (Monmouth and Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Directs COAH to adopt regulations to require
municipalities to prioritize current residents in affordable housing
applications.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act

concerning residency considerations in
affordable housing applications and amending P.L.1985, c.222.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� Section 7 of P.L.1985, c.222
(C.52:27D-307) is amended to read as follows:

���� 7.��� It shall be the duty of
the council, seven months after the confirmation of the last member initially
appointed to the council, or January 1, 1986, whichever is earlier, and from
time to time thereafter, to:

���� a.���� Determine housing
regions of the State;

���� b.��� Estimate the present and
prospective need for low and moderate income housing at the State and regional
levels;

���� c.���� Adopt criteria and
guidelines for:

���� (1)�� Municipal determination
of its present and prospective fair share of the housing need in a given region
which shall be computed for a 10-year period.

���� Municipal fair share shall be
determined after crediting on a one-to-one basis each current unit of low and
moderate income housing of adequate standard, including any such housing
constructed or acquired as part of a housing program specifically intended to
provide housing for low and moderate income households.� Notwithstanding any
other law to the contrary, a municipality shall be entitled to a credit for a
unit if it demonstrates that (a) the municipality issued a certificate of
occupancy for the unit, which was either newly constructed or rehabilitated
between April 1, 1980 and December 15, 1986; (b) a construction code official
certifies, based upon a visual exterior survey, that the unit is in compliance
with pertinent construction code standards with respect to structural elements,
roofing, siding, doors and windows; (c) the household occupying the unit
certifies in writing, under penalty of perjury, that it receives no greater
income than that established pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-304)
to qualify for moderate income housing; and (d) the unit for which credit is
sought is affordable to low and moderate income households under the standards
established by the council at the time of filing of the petition for
substantive certification.� It shall be sufficient if the certification
required in subparagraph (c) is signed by one member of the household.� A
certification submitted pursuant to this paragraph shall be reviewable only by
the council or its staff and shall not be a public record;

���� Nothing in P.L.1995, c.81
shall affect the validity of substantive certification granted by the council
prior to November 21, 1994, or of a judgment of compliance entered by any court
of competent jurisdiction prior to that date.� Additionally, any municipality
that received substantive certification or a judgment of compliance prior to
November 21, 1994 and filed a motion prior to November 21, 1994 to amend
substantive certification or a judgment of compliance for the purpose of
obtaining credits, shall be entitled to a determination of its right to credits
pursuant to the standards established by the Legislature prior to P.L.1995,
c.81.� Any municipality that filed a motion prior to November 21, 1994 for the
purpose of obtaining credits, which motion was supported by the results of a
completed survey performed pursuant to council rules, shall be entitled to a
determination of its right to credits pursuant to the standards established by
the Legislature prior to P.L.1995, c.81;

���� (2)�� Municipal adjustment of
the present and prospective fair share based upon available vacant and
developable land, infrastructure considerations or environmental or historic
preservation factors and adjustments shall be made whenever:

���� (a)�� The preservation of
historically or important architecture and sites and their environs or
environmentally sensitive lands may be jeopardized,

���� (b)�� The established pattern
of development in the community would be drastically altered,

���� (c)�� Adequate land for
recreational, conservation or agricultural and farmland preservation purposes
would not be provided,

���� (d)�� Adequate open space
would not be provided,

���� (e)�� The pattern of
development is contrary to the planning designations in the State Development
and Redevelopment Plan prepared pursuant to sections 1 through 12 of P.L.1985,
c.398 (C.52:18A-196 et seq.),

���� (f)�� Vacant and developable
land is not available in the municipality, and

���� (g)�� Adequate public
facilities and infrastructure capacities are not available, or would result in
costs prohibitive to the public if provided.

���� (3)�� (Deleted by amendment,
P.L.1993, c.31).

���� d.��� Provide population and
household projections for the State and housing regions;

���� e.���� In its discretion,
place a limit, based on a percentage of existing housing stock in a
municipality and any other criteria including employment opportunities which
the council deems appropriate, upon the aggregate number of units which may be
allocated to a municipality as its fair share of the region's present and
prospective need for low and moderate income housing.� No municipality shall be
required to address a fair share of housing units affordable to households with
a gross household income of less than 80% of the median gross household income
beyond 1,000 units within ten years from the grant of substantive
certification, unless it is demonstrated, following objection by an interested
party and an evidentiary hearing, based upon the facts and circumstances of the
affected municipality that it is likely that the municipality through its
zoning powers could create a realistic opportunity for more than 1,000 low and
moderate income units within that ten-year period.� For the purposes of this
section, the facts and circumstances which shall determine whether a
municipality's fair share shall exceed 1,000 units, as provided above, shall be
a finding that the municipality has issued more than 5,000 certificates of
occupancy for residential units in the ten-year period preceding the petition
for substantive certification in connection with which the objection was filed.

���� For the purpose of crediting
low and moderate income housing units in order to arrive at a determination of
present and prospective fair share, as set forth in paragraph (1) of subsection
c. of this section, housing units comprised in a community residence for the
developmentally disabled, as defined in section 2 of P.L.1977, c.448
(C.30:11B-2), shall be fully credited pursuant to rules promulgated or to be
promulgated by the council, to the extent that the units are affordable to
persons of low and moderate income and are available to the general public.

���� The council, with respect to
any municipality seeking substantive certification, shall require that a
minimum percentage of housing units in any residential development resulting
from a zoning change made to a previously non-residentially-zoned property,
where the change in zoning precedes or follows the application for residential
development by no more than 24 months, be reserved for occupancy by low or
moderate income households, which percentage shall be determined by the council
based on economic feasibility with consideration for the proposed density of
development.

���� In carrying out the above
duties, including, but not limited to, present and prospective need estimations
the council shall give appropriate weight to pertinent research studies,
government reports, decisions of other branches of government, implementation
of the State Development and Redevelopment Plan prepared pursuant to sections 1
through 12 of P.L.1985, c.398 (C.52:18A-196 et seq.) and public comment.� To
assist the council, the State Planning Commission established under that act
shall provide the council annually with economic growth, development and
decline projections for each housing region for the next ten years.� The
council shall develop procedures for periodically adjusting regional need based
upon the low and moderate income housing that is provided in the region through
any federal, State, municipal or private housing program.

���� No housing unit subject to the
provisions of section 5 of P.L.2005, c.350 (C.52:27D-123.15) and to the
provisions of the barrier free subcode adopted by the Commissioner of Community
Affairs pursuant to the "State Uniform Construction Code Act,"
P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-119 et seq.) shall be eligible for inclusion in the
municipal fair share plan certified by the council unless the unit complies
with the requirements set forth thereunder.

����
The council, or its
successor, shall promulgate rules and regulations to provide a preference for
persons and families who have applied for affordable housing assistance and
reside in the municipality in which they have applied.�

(cf: P.L.2008, c.46, s.6)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

���� This bill directs the Council
on Affordable Housing, or its successor, to promulgate rules and regulations to
provide a preference for persons and families who have applied for affordable
housing assistance and reside in the municipality in which they have applied.