S2098

An Act directing Department of Community Affairs to create affordable housing declaratory judgment database and supplementing P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.).

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

1. a. The Department of Community Affairs shall produce a database that details the results of each declaratory judgment action completed on or after January 1, 2015. The department shall develop, maintain, and update the database based upon information submitted to the department by the parties to the declaratory judgment action, and the courts, and based upon information obtained from any other sources. Upon request by the department, the Mount Laurel-designated judges in the Superior court vicinages, each municipality that is party to a declaratory judgment action, and each other party to the action, shall provide the department with the information necessary to develop the database. The database shall be accessible to the public on the Internet website of the department.

b. The database shall contain, but shall not be limited to:

(1) a list of the municipalities that have completed a declaratory judgment action;

(2) the number of affordable housing units that, pursuant to a declaratory judgment action, represent a municipality’s fair share of the need for affordable housing in its region, divided into the rehabilitation share, gap-present need share, prospective need share, and the unfulfilled prior-round obligation;

(3) the ratio of rental units to ownership units among the affordable housing units in the municipality, and, as applicable, among the units within the municipality’s fair share obligation that have not yet been constructed;

(4) the ratio of affordable units to market-rate units and total number of affordable units and market-rate units mandated pursuant to any declaratory judgment action among the housing units in the municipality, and among the developments that, pursuant to the settlement agreement, may be constructed in order to satisfy the municipality’s fair share obligation; and

(5) a list of the payments made by each municipality to each other party to a declaratory judgment action, including but not limited to the Fair Share Housing Center, for expenses associated with a settlement agreement.

c. As used in this section, “declaratory judgment action” means an action taken by a municipality to obtain a grant of repose in Superior Court, in order to comply with the “Fair Housing Act,”

P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.), including but not limited to a settlement agreement entered in accordance with In Re Adoption of N.J.A.C. 5:96 and 5:97 by New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 221 N.J. 1 (2015).

d. The Commissioner of Community Affairs may adopt rules and regulations, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), to effectuate the provisions of this section.

2. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

This bill would direct the Department of Community Affairs to produce a database that details each affordable housing declaratory judgment action, including each settlement agreement entered by a municipality in order to comply with the “Fair Housing Act,” (“FHA”) P.L.1985, c.222 (C.52:27D-301 et al.) since the beginning of 2015. The database would be based on information submitted by the parties to each action, the courts, and other sources. Upon request by the department, the bill requires the courts, each municipality, and each other party to the action, to provide the information necessary. The database would be accessible to the public on the department’s website.

The database would contain:

(1) a list of the municipalities that have completed a declaratory judgment action;

(2) the number of affordable housing units that, under the completed action, represent the municipality’s fair share of the regional need for affordable housing, commonly referred to as its fair share obligation;

(3) the ratio of rental units to ownership units amongst affordable housing in the municipality, and, as applicable, among the units within the municipality’s fair share obligation that have not yet been constructed;

(4) the ratio of affordable units to market-rate units and total number of affordable units and market-rate units mandated pursuant to any declaratory judgment action amongst housing in the municipality, and among the developments that may be constructed under the completed declaratory judgment action in furtherance of the municipality’s fair share obligation; and

In 2015, having concluded that Council on Affordable Housing was not capable of functioning as intended by the FHA, the New Jersey Supreme Court, through a decision in 2015, designated “Mount Laurel judges” in the Superior Court vicinages to both establish affordable housing obligations for New Jersey’s municipalities and certify municipal plans to meet those obligations through declaratory judgment actions. These actions were primarily resolved through settlement agreements between the municipalities and the Fair Share Housing Center, an affordable housing advocacy organization based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. This bill is meant to enhance the transparency of these actions.