Senator Phil Haines, R-District 8, has introduced Senate Resolution 112 that would put the Senate on record as supporting the case laid out in a complaint filed with the Council on Local Mandates by the town of Medford. The complaint argues new, so-called “affordable” housing quotas are unconstitutional, unfunded mandates and should be overturned. The resolution would put the Senate on record as stating that the Council on Affordable Housing has gone well beyond the powers granted to it under the Fair Housing Act.
“The law is clear. The state can’t impose expensive rules on municipalities without providing the funding necessary to meet them. It’s time the backers of these unworkable new regulations stop playing word games and admit that property taxes would have to soar to meet wildly unrealistic construction quotas.
“A Burlington Times article published on Feb. 3 illustrates the point. The article said a report released by housing advocates said 30 percent of the affordable housing built in Burlington County, or 948 units, over the next 10 years would be constructed by developers. The rest of the county’s quota of 3,145 units would have to be ‘provided by the towns themselves, possibly with taxpayer dollars.’”
“Article VII of the New Jersey Constitution bans the Legislature from the passage of laws and rules that require local government expenditures without the state providing adequate funding. Delaying implementation of these new rules for 18 months, as some legislators have proposed, is not enough. The rules will be just as unconstitutional, unjust and unworkable in 18 months as they are now. Lawmakers need to get to work immediately to create a realistic affordable housing plan that will bring gains in housing construction without raising property taxes or ruining our economy.”
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August 27, 2009
