East Windsor Keeps $2.4M in Affordable Housing Funds

By: Megan Malloy

Gov. Chris Christie’s attempted seizure of municipal affordable housing funds was halted by a June 7 appellate decision, a move that East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov applauded.

The Council On Affordable Housing voted on May 1 to take an estimated $165 million allocated towards affordable housing in municipalities that COAH claims was going unspent. Mironov, who also is president of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, criticized the vote, arguing that municipalities had not been given enough guidance as to how to spend these funds.

“Towns are at risk of being penalized for failing to comply with regulations that the State and courts have never adopted,” said Mironov on June 19.

East Windsor Township has approximately $2.4 million in affordable housing trust funds, and the money was raised from developer fees imposed over the years, according to the mayor. If the state were to be successful in seizing the municipal affordable housing funds in the future, the township would still be on the hook to fulfill the state’s 2008 mandate to provide affordable housing. Mironov said that the money would have to be raised through property taxes if this were to happen.

The appellate decision says that the state has a right to confiscate the COAH money, but puts in place a due process for any attempted seizure of the funds. According to the decision, COAH must give municipalities guidance as to how to spend the money if the state wishes to take the affordable housing funds; municipalities will have 30 days to respond to the new guidelines. Since the state budget closes on June 30, this timeline does not allow for COAH funds to close up the state’s budget gap.