Affordable Housing Programs Adopted By Morristown Council

MORRISTOWN, NJ — The Morristown Council unanimously approved the affordability housing assistance and procedures manual for two new programs coming to the town.

On Tuesday, May 23, the council heard a presentation from Community, Grants, Planning and Housing (CGP&H), Morristown's affordable housing consultants, about a pair of programs that stemmed from the town's 2019 settlement with the Fair Share Housing Center.

The first program, which is called the "Affordability Assistance Program" was introduced by Dan Levin, a senior planner at CGP&H.

"What is affordability assistance? It is part of the spending plan that's a requirement that the town needs to spend 30 percent of the affordable housing trust fund dollars that it takes in to spend that on affordability assistance, making it easier for people that are living in deed-restricted affordable housing units," Levin said.

CGP&H has designated $60,000 from the trust to fund a one-month rent relief program for qualified renters in deed-restricted affordable units only. The program will also be available for people moving into deed-restricted affordable housing.

"This does not go to people that may otherwise qualify for what's considered market-rate affordable housing. The rules on this are quite clear under the state," Levin said.

The second program may use $650,000 from its affordable housing trust fund to make forgivable loans for home and apartment improvements for low- and moderate-income residents.

According to Migdalia “Mickey” Guzman, the housing rehabilitation specialist at CGP&H, a maximum of $24,000 per property is available to enable these properties to meet health and safety codes.

"The funds are used to replace or repair any substandard major housing systems, such as a roof, electrical systems, foundation and windows, just to name a few things," Guzman said.

According to CGP&H, there is no cost to apply for the program, and owners who keep their properties for a decade will not have to repay the loans. If the homeowner were to sell their property before those ten years, they would have to repay the full loan.

Guzman and Levin both stated that the town will share information on how to apply for both of these funds in the coming weeks.

Councilman Robert Iannaccone raised concerns about the rental rehab program, expressing slight confusion over the details.

"On the rent support, I have no issue with that at all, that was pretty clear and understandable. This one is somewhat more complicated, but the complicating factor for me, was actually how it works with landlords," Iannaccone said. "My concern was, are you awarding landlords who did not improve their property for years?"

In response, Levin said that their business typically discovers that landlords don't usually take it up in rental rehabs. The reason for this is that the terms are not as favorable as landlords would like because they must have a ten-year deed restriction on the unit.

"Most landlords who have a five-year horizon on their property, they don't take it up," Levin said.