Affordable Housing in Bridgewater

Bridgewater has not only fulfilled state-mandated requirements for affordable housing but, according to Township Administrator, James Naples, it has out-performed all of its objectives by building 333 units more than required, and by getting them online long before the deadline of 2014.

Now, according to new regulations proposed by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the state is seeking to impose an additional requirement for another 1100 units to be built in Bridgewater by the year 2018. Complex rules explaining this imposition are outlined in a December 24, 2007, memo to the Township by the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH). Both the DCA and COAH fall under the jurisdiction of Commissioner Joseph V. Doria, Jr.

Affordable housing is not merely a worthwhile goal but, indeed, is an obligation of the state and all of its communities towards its less fortunate citizens -- but not when it is being implemented according to what COAH calls its newly proposed “third round rules.” If allowed to stand without modification, these new regulations will become law and will go into effect in June, imposing an insuperable burden on Bridgewater.

For example, Mr. Naples points out that COAH assumptions for numbers projecting future growth in the Township (these data are largely the basis for the newly assigned burden of 1100 housing units) “make no sense in reality.” He underscores that the assumptions used by COAH “are 10 years old.” In effect, the Department of Community Affairs is assigning Bridgewater a new allocation based upon growth which has already occurred.

Naples underscores that the Township does not oppose affordable housing, but merely that Bridgewater “has met its obligation,” and “we clearly don’t have a place to put all of those units, unless we start to build up.”

Is it too much to expect that the state will give us a break?

Note: For more information, see the DCA website at http://www.nj.gov/dca/, http://www.state.nj.us/dca/coah/dec07proposal.shtml, and http://www.state.nj.us/dca/coah/dec07proposal/muniletter.pdf