OHA, COAH targeted for elimination
HMFA and Division of Housing and Community Resources
Among those identified for changes!
Last Friday, Governor Chris Christie released nineteen (19) reports prepared by his Transition New Jersey subcommittees, which conducted thorough reviews of all departments, agencies and authorities of the state and made assessments and recommendations to improve, shrink and, in some cases, eliminate wasteful or inefficient government operations.
“These reports are full of bold ideas and recommendations for change from a bipartisan group of individuals from the private and public sectors,” said Christie. “They came to the task with a wide range of knowledge and expertise and gave us unvarnished assessments of our state government, its strengths, weaknesses and failures. I want to thank them for their hard work and dedication. In the coming weeks, my Cabinet and I will be consulting with subcommittee members, reviewing each of the reports, and carefully considering these recommendations for improvement and change.”
To read all of the reports click here.
To read the one on the Department of Community Affairs click here.
Among the recommendations for DCA were:
The Division of Housing and Community Resources was recommended to be merged into the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (“HMFA”).
The Division’s housing production programs serve a similar function as HMFA (both providing funding for production and/or rehabilitation of housing). Not only would this provide increased efficiencies and productivity, it would promote and maximize the ability of both entities to accomplish their goals and maximize their collective return on available dollars. Moreover, the consolidation of housing related matters is a necessary first step in coordinating housing programs and policies to achieve a consistent and productive outcome.
Several recommendations were made about HMFA. In addition to incorporation of the Division of Housing and Community Resources, HMFA would become more independent an function like a bank.
In a footnote, “the money allocated to OHA could be reduced to $1 million to be used to sponsor nonprofit entities’ attendance at Harvard program run by Government Sponsored Entities (e.g., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), or other similar programs, to educate them on becoming developers.”
The nonprofits could then be guided toward a partnership with a private entity to assist them in moving toward the current goal of OHA. The current program is not achieving the results and this model would help achieve the desired goal; otherwise OHA should be eliminated.
The Council on Affordable Housing (“COAH”) was targeted for long-term and short-term changes that would effectively eliminate COAH.
The long-term recommendation was a constitutional amendment to eliminate COAH.
The short-term recommendation would have COAH “abolished through legislation, and any aggrieved party would have the right through a builder’s remedy lawsuit to challenge a municipality zoning scheme in court as was done before the Fair Housing Act.”
There are more details in the full report. We will report in more detail as we review the full document.
To read the one on the Department of Community Affairs click here.
