New Jersey A 3825: Requires COAH to credit municipalities with units against fair share affordable housing obligation for certain types of housing; provides certain types of affordable housing units will be credited as two units.

Bill Text

A3825 

ASSEMBLY, No. 3825 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

� 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman AURA K. DUNN

District 25 (Morris and Passaic)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Flynn

SYNOPSIS

���� Requires COAH to credit municipalities with units 
against fair share affordable housing obligation for certain types of housing; 
provides certain types of affordable housing units will be credited as two 
units.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT 

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

��

An Act concerning affordable housing 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 municipal