Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman VERLINA REYNOLDS-JACKSON
District 15 (Hunterdon and Mercer)
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman LINDA S. CARTER
District 22 (Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Expands financing opportunities for low and moderate income housing.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning financing for affordable housing and amending and supplementing chapter 14K of Title 55 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1983, c.530 (C.55:14K-3) is amended to read as follows:
3. As used in this act:
a. "Agency" means the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency as consolidated by section 4 of P.L.1983, c.530 (C.55:14K-4), or, if that agency shall be abolished by law, the person, board, body or commission succeeding to the powers and duties thereof or to whom its powers and duties shall be given by law.
b. "Boarding house" means any building, together with any related structure, accessory building, any land appurtenant thereto, and any part thereof, which contains two or more units of dwelling space arranged or intended for single room occupancy, exclusive of any such unit occupied by an owner or operator, including:
(1) any residential hotel or congregate living arrangement, but excluding any hotel, motel or established guesthouse wherein a minimum of [85%] 85 percent of the units of dwelling space are offered for limited tenure only; (2) a residential health care facility as defined in section 1 of P.L.1953, c.212 (C.30:11A-1) or licensed pursuant to P.L.1971, c.136 (C.26:2H-1 et seq.); (3) any resource family home as defined in section 1 of P.L.1962, c.137 (C.30:4C-26.1); (4) any community residence for the developmentally disabled as defined in section 2 of P.L.1977, c.448 (C.30:11B-2); (5) any dormitory owned or operated on behalf of any nonprofit institution of primary, secondary or higher education for the use of its students; (6) any building arranged for single room occupancy wherein the units of dwelling space are occupied exclusively by students enrolled in a full-time course of study at an institution of higher education approved by the Department of Higher Education; and (7) any facility or living arrangement operated by, or under contract with, any State department or agency.
c. "Bonds" mean any bonds, notes, bond anticipation notes, debentures or other evidences of financial indebtedness issued by the agency pursuant to this act.
d. "Continuing-care retirement community" means any work or undertaking, whether new construction, improvement or rehabilitation, which may be financed in part or in whole by the agency and which is designed to complement fully independent residential units with social and health care services (usually including nursing and medical services) for retirement families and which is intended to provide continuing care for the term of a contract in return for an entrance fee or periodic payments, or both, and which may include such appurtenances and facilities as the agency deems to be necessary, convenient or desirable.
e. "Eligible loan" means a loan, secured or unsecured, made for the purpose of financing the operation, maintenance, construction, acquisition, rehabilitation or improvement of property, or the acquisition of a direct or indirect interest in property, located in the State, which is or shall be: (1) primarily residential in character or (2) used or to be used to provide services to the residents of an area or project which is primarily residential in character. The agency shall adopt regulations defining the term "primarily residential in character," which may include single-family, multi-family and congregate or other single room occupancy housing, continuing-care retirement communities, assisted living communities, mobile homes and nonhousing properties and facilities which enhance the livability of the residential property or area; and specifying the types of residential services and facilities for which eligible loans may be made, which may include, but shall not be limited to, parking facilities, streets, sewers, utilities, and administrative, community, educational, welfare and recreational facilities, food, laundry, health and other services and commercial establishments and professional offices providing supplies and services enhancing the area. The term "loan" includes an obligation the return on which may vary with any appreciation in value of the property or interest in property financed with the proceeds of the loan, or a co-ventured instrument by which an institutional lender or the agency assumes an equity position in the property. Any undivided interest in an eligible loan shall qualify as an eligible loan.
f. "Family" means two or more persons who live or expect to live together as a single household in the same dwelling unit; but any individual who (1) has attained retirement age as defined in section 216a of the federal Social Security Act, or (2) is under a disability as defined in section 223 of that act, or (3) such other individuals as the agency by rule or regulation shall include, shall be considered as a family for the purpose of this act; and the surviving member of a family whose other members died during occupancy of a housing project shall be considered as a family for the purposes of permitting continued occupancy of the dwelling unit occupied by such family.
g. "Gross aggregate family income" means the total annual income of all members of a family, from whatever source derived, including but not limited to, pension, annuity, retirement and social security benefits; except that there may be excluded from income (1) such reasonable allowances for dependents, (2) such reasonable allowances for medical expenses, (3) all or any proportionate part of the earnings of gainfully employed minors, or (4) such income as is not received regularly, as the agency by rule or regulation may determine.
h. "Housing project" or "project" means any work or undertaking, [other than a continuing-care community,] whether new construction, improvement, rehabilitation, or acquisition of existing buildings or units which is designed for the primary purpose of providing multi-family rental housing or acquisition of sites for future multi-family rental housing.
i. "Housing sponsor" means any person, partnership, corporation or association, whether organized as for profit or not for profit, to which the agency has made or proposes to make a loan, either directly or through an institutional lender, for a housing project.
j. "Institutional lender" means any bank or trust company, savings bank, national banking association, savings and loan association, or building and loan association maintaining an office in the State, or any insurance company or any mortgage banking firm or mortgage banking corporation authorized to transact business in the State.
k. "Life safety improvement" means any addition, modification or repair to a boarding house which is necessary to improve the life safety of the residents of the boarding house, as certified by the Department of Community Affairs, including, but not limited to, the correction of a violation of the" State Uniform Construction Code Act," P.L.1975, c.217 (C.52:27D-119 et seq.), the "Rooming and Boarding House Act of 1979," P.L.1979, c.496 (C.55:13B-1 et seq.), or the "Uniform Fire Safety Act," P.L.1983, c.383 (C.52:27D-192 et seq.) and the administrative regulations promulgated in accordance with these acts.
l. "Life safety improvement loan" means an eligible loan the proceeds of which are to be used to finance, in whole or in