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Court: Christie can’t use towns’ affordable housing trust fund

Chris_Christie_Governor_of_New_Jersey

APRIL 9, 2015, 1:30 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 2015, 11:55 PM
BY SALVADOR RIZZO
STATE HOUSE BUREAU |
THE RECORD

A state appeals court on Thursday blocked Governor Christie’s efforts to take $160 million out of trust funds that towns use to build low-cost housing units for poor, disabled and elderly residents.

It was the latest setback for Christie in a legal battle brewing for years over New Jersey’s troubled housing program for poor residents. Last month, the state Supreme Court ruled that Christie’s inaction on affordable-housing matters had gone on too long and required an urgent fix.

As an end run around the Christie administration, the high court put judges in charge of setting rules and giving guidance to towns on how many low-cost housing units they should be building. With Thursday’s ruling by the appeals court, the judiciary is now set to take control of millions of dollars in housing funds to implement those plans.

Christie, a Republican, in 2012 tried to take the housing funds to help balance the state budget. The appeals court rejected his position and faulted his administration for ignoring previous court orders, declining to write statewide housing regulations and leaving New Jersey towns in the dark as to how many homes should be built for their lowest-income residents.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/court-christie-can-t-use-towns-affordable-housing-trust-funds-1.1306007

7 thoughts on “Court: Christie can’t use towns’ affordable housing trust fund

  1. Why is it this clown is always trying to get money to balance the state budget that the governor is not permitted to take?

  2. because he is a scam in a half.

  3. Because unlike dumbocrats he won’t raise our taxes. Thanks gov!
    He should fire state employees and force the rest to pay for their own health care.
    Problem solved

  4. I don’t think he is going to fire his double dipping staff and high paid consultants. Who is paying for all his trips to run for president ?

  5. Gov crispy cream thinks he operates above the law. The judicial branch of government is still the most powerful just look at Nixon,

    1. nice of them to raise your taxes

  6. NJ cops and firemen have lent themselevs one billion dollars from their pension plan to subsidize their home mortgages. Funding for the PFRS Mortgage Loan program is provided by the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System to PFRS members for only 2.81% for a 30 year fixed mortgage up to $417,000… the rest of us would pay 3.77% today for a comparable mortgage according to bankrate.com. It’s fine that PFRS members get such a great deal subsidized by their own pension assets, but that’s not the issue. The issue is that the PFRS pension fund assumes an annual rate of return of 7.95%. So when one billion dollars of plan assets are only earning 2.81% (10 year Treasury bill plus 1%), they can’t possibly return 7.95%. Who is liable for the difference? NJ state and local property taxpayers, who must fund all of the difference between NJ state pension plan returns and the assumed rate of return of 7.95%. Effectively NJ state and local taxpayers are subsidizing cut rate mortgages for only PFRS members.

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