STATE OF NEW JERSEY
220th LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2022 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman ANNETTE CHAPARRO
District 33 (Hudson)
Assemblywoman YVONNE LOPEZ
District 19 (Middlesex)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson
SYNOPSIS
Revises Homelessness Prevention Program; appropriates $300 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
AN ACT revising the Homelessness Prevention Program, supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes, and making an appropriation.
BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. The mortal threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the Governor and Legislature to take drastic but necessary action. Executive Order No. 103 of 2020 effectively shut down the New Jersey economy on March 9, 2020, in order to hinder the rapid spread of the virus and to limit as much as possible the number of infections, severe illnesses, and deaths. At the same time, the Governor and Legislature enacted P.L.2020, c.1 (C.2A:18-59.3) and implemented a moratorium on evictions, so as to ensure that households would be able to shelter in place and eliminate the threat posed by displacement, overcrowding, and the resultant spread of the virus.
b. The foregoing measures caused severe but unavoidable economic difficulties, which have deeply affected the overall well-being of millions of New Jersey residents. Tenants, who in general have substantially lower-incomes and far less wealth than homeowners, have been disproportionately affected: a large and growing number of them immediately became and remain unemployed or underemployed. This is especially so for lower-income people of color, who are predominantly tenants and who continue to be victimized by the systemic and structural racism, which has left them severely disadvantaged and extremely vulnerable to health emergencies and economic downturns.
c. Millions of jobs in our State and elsewhere have been permanently lost, and only around half of the total number of jobs abruptly interrupted by the virus-driven shutdown have returned. The general consensus is that it will take many months or even years for the devastatingly high unemployment to recede, and for the economy to recover to anywhere near its pre-pandemic level.
d. As a result, not only will hundreds of thousands of tenants in our State be unable to pay all or even part of the rental arrearages caused by the pandemic when the moratorium ends, but these tenants will also find it extremely difficult, or even impossible, to make their current, ongoing monthly rental payments once they resume.
e. An overwhelming number
of struggling tenant households, disproportionately black and brown, will
therefore be at risk of eviction for non-payment of all or part of their
regular rent shortly after the moratorium is lifted. Combining the number of
struggling tenants with the number of people at risk of displacement if the
arrearage issue is not addressed, it becomes clear that the resulting number of
evictions and the resulting overcrowding, will create conditions likely to fuel
the resurgence and spread of COVID-19, and threaten the health, safety, and
lives of their families, communities, and the society at large.
f. In Executive Order No. 106 of 2020, the Governor expressly stated that protection and preservation of personal and public health was the primary reason driving the imposition of the economic shutdown and eviction moratorium, a health-centered concern echoed and reinforced by the national eviction moratorium subsequently mandated by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The need to strictly limit eviction, now and for the foreseeable future, is undeniable.
g. Efforts need to be made to provide financial compensation directly to landlords who have suffered deep economic losses through no fault of their tenants or themselves. At the same time, however, it is evident that, until the economy rebounds, hundreds of thousands of tenants will need help paying their regular rent going forward once the moratorium ends, in order to ensure some measure of security and stability for their families and communities; provide landlords with the restored rental income stream required to safely and efficiently operate their buildings; and, most importantly, prevent a resurgence of COVID-19 that will threaten the health and safety of tenants, landlords, and the public at large.
2. a. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
Commissioner means the Commissioner of Community Affairs.
Deep subsidy means a rental housing subsidy which limits the tenants share of the monthly rent to a percentage of the tenants income, and which can be adjusted to maintain that percentage should the tenants income change.
Department means the Department of Community Affairs. Low income household means a household with a total current annual household income equal to 50 percent or less of the area median income for a household of the same size and composition.
Moderate income household means a household with a total current gross annual household income in excess of 50 percent but less than 80 percent of the area median income for a household of the same size and composition.
Shallow subsidy means a rental housing subsidy which limits the tenants share of the monthly rent to a percentage of the tenants income, and which can be adjusted to maintain that percentage should the tenants income change.
Very low income household means a household with a total current annual household income less than or equal to 30 percent of the area median income for a household of the same size and composition.
b. The Commissioner of Community Affairs shall rename the current Homelessness Prevention Program established pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1984, c.180 (C. 52:27D-280 et al.), as the Eviction and Homelessness Prevention Program.
c. The commissioner shall revise and amend the "Homeless Prevention Program Regulations" established pursuant to chapter 41 of Title 5 of the New Jersey Administrative Code to meet or provide for the following:
(1) the regulations shall be renamed the Eviction and Homelessness Prevention Program Regulations;
(2) a household shall be eligible to participate in the program if, due to reasons beyond the households control, the household is unable to make residential rental payments which are due and owing pursuant to a valid and enforceable oral or written lease, stipulation of settlement, judgment, order or other type of legally binding agreement;
(3) a household shall be eligible for assistance under this program regardless of whether the household has been served with a summons and complaint for eviction;
(4) a household shall be eligible for assistance if their annualized current income is no more than 80 percent of the area median income; however, the commissioner may establish funding priorities to benefit very low income and low income households;
(5) a household shall be eligible for assistance under this program although it may be unlikely for the household to