The following regulations shall apply to all
mobile homes and/or trailer parks where initial certificates of occupancy
are to be issued as a new mobile home or trailer park, except that
80% of the total units shall be affordable to low- and moderate-income
households.
The purpose of moderate- and low-income housing
regulations is to provide a realistic opportunity for the construction
of housing for persons and families of low and moderate incomes as
required by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Southern Burlington County
NAACP v. Twp. of Mt. Laurel, 92 N.J. 158 (1983) (Mount Laurel II)
and by the Fair Housing Act, P.L. 1975, c. 222.
The following words used in this article are
intended to have the same meaning as given to them by the Supreme
Court in the Mount Laurel II decision and as clarified, or otherwise
modified, by subsequent decisions, if any, by a court of competent
jurisdiction with applicability to Howell Township or the region of
which Howell Township is considered a part and the Fair Housing Act,
P.L. 1975, c. 222: "affordable," "low income," "median income," "moderate
income," "rerental control," "resale control," "adult citizen restricted"
shall mean the housing units so designated shall be occupied and used
solely by and for individuals 52 years of age or over; married couples
at least one of which is 52 years of age or over; two closely related
persons when both persons are 52 years of age or over; one person
over 18 years of age may reside in the unit with an adult person or
persons, as permitted above, if the presence of such person is essential
for the physical care or economic support of the adult person; children
18 years of age or older may reside with a parent or parents.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any other
ordinance to the contrary, the provisions of this article shall apply
to development within moderate- and low-income housing zones.
The developer shall submit a resale/rerental
plan for the affordable units, to the Township Council and the Township
Attorney, and such plan shall be approved by the Township Council
and Township Attorney prior to the issuance of any building permits.
The Howell Township Nonprofit Housing Corporation
(when formed by the former Howell Township Committee) will be responsible
for all screening and preselection of home buyers and renters for
all moderate- and low-income housing units. Immediately upon organization
of the Housing Corporation, the Housing Corporation will adopt formal
policies for home buyer and renter selection, prepare and disseminate
application and other forms, and advertise the availability of the
designated Mount Laurel II units in newspapers of general circulation
throughout the Howell Township region.
A. First selection pool.
(1) General.
(a)
The Housing Corporation will establish a cutoff
date for receipt of applications for the first selection pool. All
applicants filing by that date will be governed by the procedures
set forth in this subsection.
(b)
Applications will be accepted only from those
providing adequate documentation of low- or moderate-income status,
as defined by the Housing Corporation. Two separate pools of applicants
will be maintained: one for low-income households and one for moderate-income
households, respectively.
(c)
Any applicant seeking MFA financing for ML II
low- or moderate-income housing unit must also meet the selection
criteria of the MFA, including status as a first-time home buyer.
(2) First priority category:
(a)
The following classes of households will be
considered first priority households for purchase of ML II low- or
moderate-income housing unit, subject to the household size classification
set forth in Subsection B(3) below.
(b)
Households with one or more wage earners working
in Howell Township and meeting any one of the following criteria:
[1]
Employees of Howell Township, and Howell Township
district living in shared or deficient housing, to be given priority
over other applicants in this category.
[2]
Residents of Howell Township living in deficient
housing, as that shall be defined by the Corporation.
[3]
Individuals living more than 20 miles from their
place of work within Howell Township, by the most time-efficient route
to work, or living in an Urban Aid Municipality (as defined by the
New Jersey Department of Community Affairs) within the Mount Laurel
II present need region of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
(c)
Households constituting indigenous housing need
in the Township of Howell; i.e., households living in units either
lacking plumbing, lacking adequate heating, or overcrowded, as defined
for purposes of the current Howell Township fair share housing allocation
plan.
(3) Household size classification.
(a)
All applicants in the first priority category
will be classified according to the size of unit required, as determined
by household size, number of children, and age and sex of children
in the household.
(b)
Within each household size class, preference
will be given to the larger household, or the household with the larger
number of children aged 18 or under.
(c)
If there are an inadequate number of first priority
households to fill the available units of a particular size, but an
excess of first priority households of smaller or larger size, the
excess households shall not be given units of inappropriate size,
but shall be placed on the priority waiting list for units of appropriate
size. The remaining units will be made available to second priority
households of appropriate size and composition.
(4) Second priority category.
(a)
The following classes of households will be
considered second priority households for purchase of rental units
of designated Mount Laurel II moderate- and low-income housing:
[1]
Households with one or more wage earners working within a ten-mile distance of the Howell Township municipal boundary, and meeting either of the deficiency criteria set forth in Subsection
A(2)(b)[1] and
[2].
[2]
Households living in Howell Township or within
a ten-mile distance of the municipal boundary, and living in substandard
housing or suffering from such other housing deficiency as may be
defined by the Housing Corporation.
(b)
Any households in the second priority category
who are also residents in an Urban Aid Municipality as defined by
the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs will be given highest
priority among applicants within this category.
(c)
All of the household size classification procedures set forth in Subsection
A(3) above shall apply to households in the second priority category.
(5) Additional priorities. If the first selection pool
yields an inadequate number of households in the first and second
priority categories, and a substantial number of households which
fit into neither category, the Corporation may establish further priority
categories in order to facilitate the selection of home buyers or
renters from the remaining households in the pool. In the absence
of such action, all households not fitting into the two priority categories
shall be treated equally.
(6) Selection within priority categories. With the procedures
set forth above and after all households have been placed in the appropriate
pool by income category and unit type, and classified according to
the priority categories above, the Housing Corporation may at its
discretion employ a lottery or other random selection procedure to
choose among households of equal priority ranking for a more limited
number of housing units. The Housing Corporation may also use such
random procedures to rank applicants not falling into either priority
category.
B. Further selection pools.
(1) Subsequent to the cut-off date established for the first selection pool, the Housing Corporation may establish additional cutoff dates for one or more additional selection pools, in order to ensure that there be an adequate number of applicants for the available purchase or rental housing units. All priority and housing size classification categories set forth in Subsection
A shall apply to applicants in any further selection pool.
(2) The Housing Corporation may, at its discretion, where
a particular need or hardship has been established, place first priority
households from the second or subsequent selection pools ahead of
second or lower priority households in an earlier selection pool.
C. Waiting lists.
(1) At the time when all of the units in any category;
e.g., three-bedroom units for low-income families, have been sold,
the Housing Corporation will establish a waiting list for purchase
and rental units in that category as they become available in the
future, as follows:
(a)
Subsequent to their receipt of notification
of eligibility to be on the waiting list, only those households requesting
to be placed on the list shall be placed on the list. The Housing
Corporation will distribute forms for this purpose.
(b)
Households on waiting lists will be ranked according
to the same priority ranking standards set forth above for the first
selection pool, and any subsequent pools.
(c)
To the extent that there may be more than one
household in any category or subcategory on the waiting list, rank
among households in any category may be established on the basis of
a lottery or other random selection method that the Housing Corporation
may employ.
(2) The Housing Corporation shall adopt such policies
and procedures that it considers necessary, including periodic recertification
of households on the waiting list, to ensure that waiting lists remain
current, and that all households on the list are qualified for the
units for which they applied.
(3) The Housing Corporation shall establish appropriate
and fair procedures to adjust the status of households on the waiting
list who, while still generally eligible for a ML II moderate- or
lower-income housing unit fall into a different pool or priority category
by virtue of change in income, household size, or other status, at
the time of annual recertification.
(4) The Housing Corporation shall adopt such additional
policies as may be necessary in order to ensure the continued efficient
operation of the said sale/resale and rental/rerental process.