Affordable Housing: City or Burbs

With Governor Corzine’s campaign pledge to create 100,000 affordable housing units in the state, one needs to take a look at where those units will go. Many municipalities pay cities through Regional Contribution Agreements (RCA) to handle up to 50% of their afforable housing responsibility. These agreements ideally help all parties concerned but we don’t live in an ideal world.
For example, Trenton benefits from its RCA and is using a portion of its RCA funds to rehab houses and provide homeownership to low income families.
Read Eva Loayza article
Affordable housing in the suburbs is not progressing as well in part because of RCA’s but also because suburban municipalities are in dire need of residents who will not further distress their school districts. Also the infrastructure, at present, may not offer enough support these families.
Read Darryl R. Isherwood article
With State Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts introducing a bill that may eliminate the RCA practice, cities and suburbs may have to scramble to negate the negative effects. What is important though is that whether low income housing is effective in the suburbs will depend on the infrastructure low income families need. Meeting low income family needs beyond the roof over head requires serious consideration.

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Technorati: NJ Real Estate News, Real Estate, NJ Real Estate Blogs, NJ Housing, New Jersey, Affordable Housing, Low-income Housing, Politics

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Bold and Ambitious Tax Reform: Fantasy?

Well it looks like the legislature is going to pass the tax credit this year. What is unclear is whether the thing will be sustainable. Governor Corzine required a comptroller and a 4% increase cap on future increases. That legislation is on track. Now do get me wrong, the government letting me keep my money is real important to me, nice of them too; but, is that really what’s happening?
First up, the Democrats:
Have property tax assessments been decreased across the board? No, at this point it probably cannot just be decreased. Has anything been done to decrease the amount NJ residents will have to pay next year? Well sort of… If Democrats have their way, most New Jerseyans will pay 20 percent less and the municipality will collect that 20 percent from the state. The state would foot 20 percent of the bill for household with incomes below $100,000 with higher incomes getting less. They are working on making the thing sustainable.
Republican Naysayers:
Republican colleagues have complained that everyone should have the same amount of relief. (If everyone had the same income, equal credits would make sense – what NJ resident would mind an income greater than $100K per year?) Other Republicans say the credit is not sustainable. (Don’t you just hate naysayers who are just so stuck on their side of the isle agendas instead of helping slay the runaway property tax beast?)
Is it too much to hope for a bipartisan effort to reform property taxes that recognizes those most in need of relief have less gross income start with or is bipartisan teamwork a fallacious fantasy?
Read the McNichol and Hester article
Read the AP article.

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Technorati: NJ Real Estate News, Real Estate, NJ Real Estate Blogs, NJ Housing, New Jersey, Tax, Property Tax, Property Tax Reform, Property Tax, Tax Reform

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Governor "Encourages" Legislature to Stay on Task

Governor Corzine seems committed to property tax reform. He knows much like the legislature that the time and place to attempt unionized workers' pension and healthcare plan reform is the bargaining table but the place to reform legislative and non-unionized state workers plans is in the legislature. Double-dipping legislators and their collegues have to police themselves but it looks like top-cop Governor Corzine will push them to do just that. Governor Corzine has said he will use his conditional veto to make sure any legislation crossing his desk addresses the issues he has directed the legislator to reform. It looks like the new marshal in the state house means to stay on task, reform a double-dipping legislature and get sustainable property tax reform.
Read Deborah Howlett's story

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Technorati: NJ Real Estate News, Real Estate, NJ Real Estate Blogs, NJ Housing, New Jersey, Property Tax, Tax Reform

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Double Dipping Legislature Offers Tax Savings

Well it looks like the legislature is doing it again. They offered a tax cut to those households that earn $100,000 or less dangling a carrot to household making more but not really digging into the meat of the property tax reform last week. Is the 20% savings sustainable? That's the big question, that and how are they going to sustain it? Frankly, messing with state worker pensions when some legislators are double dipping into the state pension and health care fund themselves is bad business practice. Why don't the current batch of the legislators have one pension and health care plan regardless of the number of state jobs? Compensation from the second job makes the purchase of extra healthcare/retirement coverage worker affordable and it need not involve the state. Instead these legislators are going to "reform" the benefits for workers with one state job. Just goes to show the real meat of reform is still not on the table and may not ever be until citizens reformers can get deal with double dipping legislators.
Read Ditch Double Dipping

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Technorati: NJ Real Estate News, Real Estate, NJ Real Estate Blogs, NJ Housing, New Jersey, Property Tax, Tax Reform

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