Agency responds to criticism about COAH

The state Department of Community Affairs (DCA) is seeking to set the record straight on what it is calling "ludicrous" claims criticizing the new affordable housing regulations in New Jersey.

The DCA issued a statement last week saying that many inaccurate statements have been made regarding the process by which the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) is trying to provide affordable housing opportunities across the state.

"There have been criticisms about the amount of affordable housing requested under COAH's revised third-round rules," said DCA Commissioner Joseph Doria.

"What these statements have ignored is the fact that COAH is allowing municipalities to build affordable housing based only on the actual growth that occurs in their communities.

"Essentially, you must only build affordable housing when you build market-rate housing and commercial development," he added.

DCA's comments come in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey League of Municipalities (NJLM) on behalf of some 235 state municipalities that are seeking changes to COAH's revised Round III affordable housing guidelines.

In its suit, the league is seeking changes to what it calls the "flawed methodology" used by COAH to determine affordable housing requirements for municipalities across the state.

COAH's Round III requirements call for Eatontown to construct 490 units of affordable housing within the borough.

Borough officials say that COAH used a "flawed" method in determining Eatontown's affordable housing obligation and took into account undevelopable land, including cemeteries, schoolyards and private residents' front yards and backyards.

"COAH would never require or permit affordable housing development to be placed in homeowners' backyards, parks or in the median of a highway," Doria said. "These ludicrous claims are being used by people trying to keep affordable housing out of their community.

"COAH used the best statewide data available to determine the amount of vacant land available in New Jersey," he said, adding, "COAH is aware that local data may be more accurate than statewide data. Any municipality may submit actual local data to COAH and we will work with the municipalities and adjust the projections accordingly."

COAH determines a municipality's affordable housing requirement by taking into account the area's overall wealth, employment rate, population, size and amount of available buildable space.

In its suit, the NJLM claims that COAH used an unreliable geological survey to determine the amount of buildable space available in each of the state's municipalities, according to Eatontown Mayor and NJLM Executive Board member Gerald Tarantolo.

The survey did not take into account property boundary lines, which resulted in a flawed survey, Tarantolo explained.

Eatontown, which has filed its own suit against COAH and has joined the League's suit, also filed an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request with the state to get documentation on how COAH determined the number of affordable housing units the borough must provide.

"What we did, through an OPRA request, was ask for the data upon which [COAH] determined the [housing] numbers we are obligated to provide," Tarantolo said. "And it was through review of that data that we found that the [survey] was flawed."

The borough's OPRA request revealed that parts of the town's industrial park, parkland and residents private yards had been included in the survey to determine the amount of buildable space, Tarantolo said.

A borough driven audit of Eatontown's affordable housing obligation performed in 2004 determined that the town must provide 92 units of affordable housing.

"We did an audit in 2004 when the criteria was first provided to us as to what land could be developed for housing," Tarantolo said. "Our numbers indicated that 92 units of housing could conceivably be built. When COAH did their audit, they came up with 442 and then upped it to 490.

"That's where the problem is," he said, adding, "It's inaccurate information being used. Eatontown is 96 percent developed. We have no more buildable areas."

In the statement from the DCA, Doria said, "It has also been suggested that COAH will make towns build on various pieces of land that are obviously unfit to have housing on them. That is absolutely false.

"COAH would not approve affordable housing proposed by the municipality on environmentally sensitive sites and follows all [Department of Environmental Protection] and other rules in place to protect the environment and our state's water supply.

"Furthermore, COAH does not dictate where municipalities build affordable housing," Doria said. "If a municipality believes their vacant land is less than what COAH thinks it to be, they can certainly contact COAH to discuss the issue as many municipalities have done."

Under COAH's Round III guidelines, which were approved in June, state municipalities are responsible for building one unit of affordable housing for every five market-rate housing units that are created, and an additional one unit of affordable housing for every 16 jobs that are created in the town.

COAH's previous growth share regulations required that for every eight units of market-value housing developed within a town, one unit must be designated as affordable. Additionally, towns were responsible to develop one unit of affordable housing for every 25 jobs created within its boundaries.

The change in guidelines resulted in an increase in the state's total affordable housing obligation from 57,000 units to 116,000 units, according to NJLM officials.

"COAH's rules are based on a growth share approach," DCA Spokesman Christopher Donnelly said. "Growth share is a way to measure a municipality's affordable housing needs based on actual growth that takes place.

"Under growth share, one unit among every five housing units created in a municipality must be affordable. One affordable housing unit must be provided for every 16 jobs created in a municipality, measured by new commercial development.

"But keep in mind that a municipality is only responsible for building affordable housing when they have built market rate housing and commercial development," Donnelly said.

In a release issued in July, NJLM officials called the changes from COAH's Round II guidelines to its Round III guidelines "unjustified and unsupportable."

Doria said, "claims that affordable housing will result in hundreds of thousands of affordable and market rate housing units across the state at great expense to the taxpayers are also mistaken and based on reverse logic."

Doria further went on to address criticism that claims that the increases in the state's affordable housing requirement would increase taxes.

"There is also the contention that affordable housing will drive up property taxes," Doria said. "This is simply untrue.

"Municipalities have many ways to meet affordable housing requirements without raising property taxes," Doria said, adding that towns can collect local development fees based on market rate housing and commercial development.

"This money can be kept locally by towns participating with COAH and they will have priority access to a new statewide pool of funding for affordable housing, which is expected to provide up to $160 million a year," Doria said.

COAH is a state agency that determines the number of affordable housing units that each municipality in the state must provide.

COAH's affordable housing obligations are the result of a 1983 state Supreme Court decision that called for municipalities to take action to meet their fair share of lowand moderate-income housing needs.

Affordable housing is defined by the state as housing that can be bought or rented with 30 percent or less of a person's income.

"Despite the best efforts of some to distort COAH's purpose and mission to help the people of New Jersey attain affordable housing they sorely need, we continue to move forward with the implementation of the third-round rules," Doria said. "We encourage municipalities to continue planning and engage in the COAH process as soon as possible."

To view the DCA's statement in its entirety or a fact sheet it released about affordable housing in New Jersey, visit www.state.nj.use/dca.
Contact Daniel Howley
dhowley@gmnews.com