>Fight brews over New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing overhaul by Christie
By Matt Katz
Inquirer Trenton Bureau
The Christie administration, providing details Thursday of its decision to eliminate the state’s controversial affordable-housing agency, said the move would end a regulatory nightmare, but advocates called it an illegal giveaway to political allies.
In late June, while Trenton was focused on approving a new budget, Gov. Christie announced several state-government reorganization plans. Those included the elimination of the independent Council on Affordable Housing and the transfer of its functions to the Department of Community Affairs.
The changes would allow Christie to give towns more control over the construction of affordable housing, long a heated issue in a densely populated state where housing costs are high and poverty is concentrated.
New Jersey courts have ruled that towns are obligated to permit the construction of housing for low-income residents. The housing council was the independent agency that determined each town’s obligation