Committee: Affordable
housing efforts lacking
Manalapan panel spent 11 months reviewing COAH’s regional effort
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer

MANALAPAN — An investigation conducted by the Manalapan Mount Laurel Ad-Hoc Committee claims there are abuses taking place in the state Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) system.

COAH is the state agency charged with administering the court mandated affordable housing program that requires developing communities throughout New Jersey to provide a "fair share" of affordable housing. COAH sets regional guidelines for low and moderate income residents that helps to determine who is eligible to buy or rent housing at below market rates.

Cynthia Maurino, chairwoman of the Manalapan ad-hoc panel, reported on her group’s findings at a recent meeting of the Township Committee. She said there had been an 11-month investigation of complaints regarding the administration and availability of the affordable housing units in the township.

The affordable homes are often referred to as Mount Laurel housing after the Burlington County community whose exclusionary zoning gave rise to litigation in the 1980s that resulted in New Jersey’s affordable housing regulations.

"The allegations the committee investigated were whether certain Mount Laurel housing units were given to people who did not meet eligibility requirements for those units as established by COAH," said Maurino. "[The committee also investigated] whether the waiting lists (for affordable units) are accurately maintained and appropriately administered by the Housing Affordability Service (HAS)."

Maurino said she also wanted to know if people on the approved state list were unable to determine their ranking or changes on the list, the location of available affordable housing, and if there had been any communication between HAS and those on the waiting list.

"The main job of the committee was to review the process from two perspectives, the applicant and the state, which has been administering Manalapan’s obligation on behalf of the township," said Maurino.

At the committee’s first meeting on April 14, 2003, complaints were discussed and it was determined that the purpose of the committee was to review and analyze the process of the Mount Laurel housing requirements as they apply to Manalapan.

Maurino said she and her fellow committee members Ray Proietti, Coral Silsbe and Michelle Roth met with attorney Robert Munoz; township planner Richard Cramer; Christy Peacock, the director of Princeton’s Mount Laurel program; Susan Molnar, administrator of Washington Township’s Mount Laurel program; and Neil Hardy, an official with HAS.

Hardy is responsible for placing applicants into Mount Laurel homes in Region IV (Monmouth, Mercer and Ocean counties).

"In 1996, Manalapan contracted with HAS to administer [the township’s] affordable housing program," said Maurino. "We have been dissatisfied from the onset with the level of service provided to the township by the state."

The panel wanted to find out information about Manalapan residents who live in affordable housing units.

"On Aug. 6, 2003, Committeewoman (now mayor) Beth Ward requested that the state release information on Manalapan residents in affordable hous­ing and provide a copy of their files which would show how long each one was wait­ing on the list before receiving their unit. Additionally, a current waiting list was requested."

Maurino said she received the present list from Diane Harris, a superior of Hardy, but was told the list was purged for people who are already living in af­fordable housing. She said she was told there was no hard copy of that list.

Maurino said Harris submitted to the township and the committee a list of 138 Mount Laurel units in Manalapan. The township prepared its own list using records from the tax assessor’s office and determined there are 195 affordable homes.

"When crossed checked with the state’s list there were 57 units missing from the state’s tally," said Maurino. "This raised the questions as to whether Manalapan is getting full credit for all its units and why the records with the state do not match exactly."

Under the terms of the 1996 agree­ment, the state is required to use the af­firmative marketing procedures estab­lished by COAH.

Maurino said COAH maintains an au­tomated management information system that contains a statewide referral list of pre-scanned applicants for this purpose.

"Their waiting list has not been main­tained in an up-to-date manner," said Maurino. "The ad-hoc committee has randomly called people on the list to in­quire [whether] they were interested in remaining on the list to obtain a unit."

She said the committee found there were many names on the list that had outdated contact information.

"Of those individuals who were con­tacted, several were not notified about (affordable housing) units at Knob Hill (on Route 33)," said Maurino. "These in­dividuals would have been interested in a unit in Manalapan. [They] have been on the list for anywhere from eight to 12 years."

The report also indicated that Hardy met with Roth, Maurino and the town­ship’s business administrator, Alayne Shepler, on Jan. 29 and indicated there were more than 3,000 names on the wait­ing list for affordable housing in Region IV.

"(Hardy) also stated that when placing applicants in Manalapan’s Mount Laurel units, he had exhausted the list of eligible applicants and filled units with people from New York City," the report said."When we were building the New Beginnings affordable housing [development, just outside Englishtown] and we were marketing the houses, we [were] three-quarters of the way through the program [when] we were informed that the [waiting] list had been ex­hausted," Proietti said. "As you may re­call, the township went out and solicited a list of 450 names at various points be­fore we went into the marketing process. That list was turned over to [the state]."

Proietti said some people who bought a home at New Beginnings came from hun­dreds of miles away after being told by relatives in this area about the develop­ment. He said it seemed unbelievable that the people who were marketing the homes were told the New Jersey list had been exhausted.

Maurino noted a situation that has been reported in Marlboro in which some people who have purchased an affordable housing unit have rented it out to an­other party at market rates. According to state law, that is illegal. COAH adminis­trators are reported to be working on a way to deal with that situation.

"What was not included (in the reports of the illegal rentals) was that there are allegations of new ‘key money’ taking place in Marlboro," Maurino told the Township Committee. "We have been told by a resident [in a] development with Mount Laurel units in Marlboro of allega­tions that significant amounts of money are passing under the table for the ability to purchase a particular unit from home­owners."

Maurino said if this is the case, then why are there an unknown number of applicants still awaiting affordable hous­ing, and why did HAS seek applicants from out of state instead of from other re­gions within the state. She also wants to know why the state is dragging its feet about supplying the rest of the data that has been requested.

Other points of concern brought up by Maurino were:

• Applicants are qualified for afford­able housing based solely on their income. Any assets they may have are not taken into account.

• There are no requirements for recer­tification of eligibility once a person is liv­ing in an affordable unit, leaving no in­centive to "move up and out" so that other COAH applicants can move in.

• Should an applicant no longer qual­ify, should they be give a timeline in which they would be required to sell or move from their affordable unit.

• Sales of existing affordable units need better regulating. Anyone who qual­ifies can purchase a unit, without regard to any waiting lists.

• Residents of other states should not be eligible for New Jersey Mount Laurel units. People from other regions in the state should be eligible first.

"We were given the task to evaluate how Manalapan’s COAH obligations have been managed in meeting the needs of our citizens as well as the regional com­munity," said Maurino. "Much to our dis­gust and dismay, the entire system ap­pears to us to have been corrupted from its original intent."

Township Committeeman Bill Scherer responded to Maurino’s presentation by saying, "This is [a] legislative [issue] and there’s nothing we can do about it. COAH is a state agency governed by the state legislature."

He suggested pursing the affordable housing issues with state Sen. Ellen Karcher (D-Monmouth).

"You also made certain serious accusa­tions regarding Marlboro and employees at Knob Hill and that should be pursued with the proper authorities," Scherer said.

Deputy Mayor Rebecca Aaronson ac­knowledged that affordable housing is a state issue, but said the Township Committee must advocate for the resi­dents.

"If our people are being passed over for people from out of state, then it’s our is­sue," said Aaronson. "We have a respon­sibility."

Maurino said there are people in Manalapan who qualify for an affordable housing unit and can’t get one.