Affordable Housing.
If you want to start a heated discussion this is one topic that will do it. Particularly in the lofty and upscale neighborhoods of Saddle River and Upper Saddle River. A complicated and issue long evolving it is difficult to unravel and keep up with. Opinions are varied, and solutions less so. However, a recent communication from a newly formed group has some promise of changes.
My name is Jim Burd. I am the President of Citizens Improving Affordable Housing (CIAH) and Former Mayor of Hopewell Twp, Mercer County,NJ.
We are a local grassroots organization working to positively modify the New Jersey Affordable Housing law. We agree that there should be affordable housing in New Jersey, but we strongly advocate that New Jersey state legislators take back control of NJ affordable housing decision-making from the state courts and address the multitude of environmental, financial, and administrative problems.
CIAH suggests these steps to begin the process of modifying New Jersey Affordable Housing laws:
- Remove the “Builder’s Remedy” from the Affordable Housing law.
- State Legislators must strive to understand the different economic, environmental, and infrastructure situations of each municipality including sewer vs. septic, well water vs. water company(s), public school system, businesses, and public transportation.
- Reevaluate the Affordable Housing “equation”. Do not use the current and incorrect equation which is based on square miles per municipality.
- CIAH needs all municipalities to send a Resolution to the state Legislators calling them to take back the NJ affordable housing back from the state Court.
- Discuss regionalizing Affordable Housing among municipalities so that those in AH will have access to good housing, potential jobs, public transportation and good public schools.
- Permit those who qualify for AH to select the area in which they want to live, so they can live near their existing family rather than be assigned to an arbitrary area.
- In lieu of requiring the municipalities to increase AH every 10 years, first find out if they have AH units that are currently available.
- Take into consideration and honor Master Plans when planning Affordable Housing. Those documents detail the carrying capacity of the land, water issues, and environmentally sensitive areas.
CIAH needs all New Jersey groups to join together to help our legislature begin to make these changes to New Jersey’s Affordable Housing law. Please feel free to contact me, Jim Burd, President of CIAH, at (jim.burd@gmail.com). I would be happy to talk to you and see how we can join forces to finally help modify the AH law before round four in 2025.
Most sincerely,
Jim Burd
President, CIAH
Interested residents please reach out directly to Jim Burd.