Sponsored by:
Assemblyman WILLIAM W. SPEARMAN
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Assemblywoman PATRICIA EGAN JONES
District 5 (Camden and Gloucester)
SYNOPSIS
Requires reservation of portion of tenant-based vouchers under State rental assistance program for persons displaced due to rehabilitation or demolition of housing.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
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.
d. The program shall reserve a portion of the funds available to it for tenant-based vouchers for persons displaced due to the demolition of affordable housing. If an affordable housing development is being redeveloped into a new affordable housing development, the persons displaced due to the redevelopment who continue to qualify for low income housing upon completion of the project, shall be granted a right of first refusal for the new affordable housing units.
(cf: P.L.2017, c.29, s.1)
2. This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill would reserve a portion of the tenant-based rental assistance vouchers under the State rental assistance program (SRAP) to provide recourse for persons displaced due to the renovation or demolition of affordable housing. If an affordable housing development is being redeveloped into a new affordable housing development, the persons displaced due to the redevelopment who continue to qualify for low income housing upon completion of the project, shall be granted a right of first refusal for the new affordable housing units.