ASSEMBLY, No. 984

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

217th LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2016 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman  DIANNE C. GOVE

District 9 (Atlantic, Burlington and Ocean)

Assemblyman  BRIAN E. RUMPF

District 9 (Atlantic, Burlington and Ocean)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblyman C.A.Brown

SYNOPSIS

     Requires reservation of portion of tenant vouchers under State rental assistance program for veterans.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

An Act concerning rental assistance and amending P.L.2004, c.140.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

     1.    Section 1 of P.L.2004, c.140 (C.52:27D-287.1) is amended to read as follows:

     1.    The Commissioner of Community Affairs shall establish a rental assistance program for low income individuals or households.  This program shall be in addition to and supplement any existing programs established pursuant to the "Prevention of Homelessness Act (1984)," P.L.1984, c.180 (C.52:27D-280 et al.).

     a.     The program shall provide rental assistance grants comparable to the federal section 8 program, but shall be available only to State residents who are not currently holders of federal section 8 vouchers.

     b.    Assistance to an individual or household under the State program shall be terminated upon the award of federal section 8 rental assistance to the same individual or household.

     c.     The program shall reserve a portion of the grants for assistance to senior citizens aged  62 or older who otherwise meet the criteria of subsection a. of this section.

     d.    The program shall reserve a portion of the grants for assistance to veterans who have successfully completed the Veterans Transitional Housing Program, or "Veterans Haven," a vocational and transitional housing program for homeless veterans administered by the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs.

e.     The program shall reserve a portion of the funds available to it for tenant-based vouchers to veterans, other than those veterans eligible for assistance pursuant to subsection d. of this section.

(cf: P.L.2007, c.237, s.1)

     2.    This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

     This bill creates a reservation of a portion of the tenant-based rental assistance vouchers under the State rental assistance program for grants to veterans.  Currently, veterans have a portion of grants reserved for them if they complete certain programs, but this assistance may be met through project-based housing.  The bill
requires a reservation of a portion of the funds available to the program for tenant-based rental vouchers to veterans, thus allowing veterans the freedom to choose where they wish to reside.