Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VALERIE VAINIERI HUTTLE
District 37 (Bergen)
Assemblyman RAJ MUKHERJI
District 33 (Hudson)
Assemblyman TROY SINGLETON
District 7 (Burlington)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman McKnight
SYNOPSIS
Requires DCA to continuously maintain open enrollment period for federal Housing Choice Voucher Program pre-applications.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning pre-applications for certain State-administered federal rental assistance and supplementing P.L.1966, c.293 (C.52:27D-1 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Commissioner of Community Affairs shall, to the extent permitted by federal law, continuously maintain an open enrollment period in which rental assistance applicants may submit pre-applications to be placed on the waiting list for the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, authorized pursuant to section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. s.1437f), that is administered by the department.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the third month next following enactment, except the commissioner may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill would require the Department of Community Affairs to continuously maintain an open enrollment period in which rental assistance applicants may submit pre-applications to be placed on the waiting list for the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program administered by the department. Neither current federal nor State law establishes a specific length of time that these open enrollment periods must last. The department, however, has used its discretion to limit these open enrollment periods to very short periods of time. This bill would ensure that applicants for this rental assistance may submit their pre-applications at any time, so that they do not lose the opportunity to be placed on the waiting list simply for missing a short window of time that the department happened to select.