>Charges wealthy towns resist because of race and class prejudice
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
BY TOM HESTER
Star-Ledger Staff
The chairman of the New Jersey NAACP’s housing committee yesterday charged that prejudice against minorities and the poor is one reason 34 higher-income towns have gone to court to oppose new affordable housing rules.
“They don’t want people who look like me in those neighborhoods,” Mike McNeil of Lakewood, the NAACP housing chairman, said at a Statehouse news conference held with the Cherry Hill-based nonprofit Fair Share Housing Center. “It’s not just racism, it’s not just because you are working poor. Someone says you are building affordable housing and they automatically assume the people are jobless and out on the street.”
The groups said the towns objecting to the state Council on Affordable Housing’s new way to determine their “fair share” of affordable housing are among the state’s least diverse.
“Our analysis shows that many of the towns that are objecting the loudest to the new regulations, particularly those that have sued the state in an effort to reduce their housing obligations under COAH, are some of the very wealthiest places in our nation,” said Adam Gordon, a Fair Share attorney. “These towns are complaining about their obligations, but they actually have to build 20 percent less affordable housing than before. They have been assigned reduced obligations, but they are complaining the loudest .”
Stuart Koenig, a lawyer for 19 of the municipalities and an official with the New Jersey State League of Municipalities denied the charge, insisting the towns are questioning the methodology used by the COAH that produced what they believe are unfairly high numbers of affordable housing units.
“These are not municipalities trying to avoid their obligations,” said Koenig. “They are upset with the rules.”
Koenig said the towns have met past affordable housing obligations which increased their population. He said under the rules, the towns are expected to produce more affordable housing because they now have more people.
Koenig said that for Bernards to meet a state demand for 206 affordable houses and apartments, it would have to allow developers to erect 1,131 units by 2018. The Corzine administration wants to see 100,000 affordable units provided state wide over the next 10 years.
Mike Cerra, a League of Municipalities legislative analyst, said 214 municipalities have joined in court action opposing the COAH regulations.
“Fair Share Housing Center has chosen to vilify the very municipalities that have stepped up to the plate to embrace the Fair Housing Act and have filed their compliance plans with, and have asked for certification from COAH,” he said.
The towns that have challenged the new COAH rules include Bethlehem, Clinton Town, Clinton Township, Greenwich Township (Warren County), Montgomery, Peapack-Gladstone, Readington, Roseland, Roxbury, Summit, Union Township (Hunterdon County), Warren, Watchung and Wharton.
Tom Hester may be reached at thester@starledger.com.