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A4458 ACW Statement 6/8/26
ASSEMBLY
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN'S AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
[First
Reprint]
ASSEMBLY, No.
4458
STATE
OF NEW JERSEY
DATED:
�
JUNE 8, 2026
����� The Assembly Community Development and Women's Affairs
Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 4458 (1R).
����� As reported, this bill requires the Commissioner of
Community Affairs (commissioner) to establish the Public Housing Hotline Pilot
Program in the Bureau of Housing Inspection (bureau) to enable certain public
housing occupants to lodge complaints concerning living conditions.� The pilot
program is to maintain a toll-free telephone hotline available 24 hours a day,
seven days per week, through which occupants of certain public housing, as
determined under the federal "United States Housing Act of 1937" (42
U.S.C. s.1437 et seq.), may lodge complaints concerning any health, safety, or
general well-being issues related to the living conditions associated with the
public housing facility.�
����� The hotline is to be available to occupants of pilot
public housing, defined in the bill to consist of public housing administered
by pilot housing authorities.� The bill requires the commissioner to select
three housing authorities as the pilot housing authorities, one from each of
the northern, central, and southern regions of the State.�
����� The hotline is required, at a minimum, to:
����� include among its staff of live operators persons who
speak English and Spanish;
����� offer a multilingual, interactive voice technology
response as an alternative option; and
����� protect caller anonymity.
����� Under the bill, the hotline is required to receive
calls related to the living conditions associated with pilot public housing and
is authorized to respond to each call with general or individualized
information regarding the laws, regulations, policies, and procedures relevant
to the complaints.�
����� The bill also requires the bureau to establish and
maintain a centralized database compiling the substantiated complaints lodged
from the hotline for the development of a comparative profile of the applicable
public housing facilities, and to post the profile for public inspection on the
bureau�s Internet website in an easily accessible location.�
����� To ensure the integrity of both the telephone hotline
and the database, and to encourage pilot public housing occupants to use the
hotline, the commissioner is required to adopt certain rules and regulations concerning
privacy and public notice. The bureau is authorized to employ different
technologies and processes in operation of both the hotline and the database to
ensure efficiency and integrity.
����� The bill requires the pilot program to operate for
three years following the establishment of the hotline.� Within 90 days
following the conclusion of each administrative year for the pilot program, the
commissioner is to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the
results of the pilot program.� The report is to include a discussion of the
volume and subjects of complaints received, and the role of the pilot program
in facilitating resolutions to complaints.� The final report is to include the
opinion of the commissioner on the advisability of continuing, expanding, or
modifying the pilot program.