NJ Proposal Would Reward Developers Who Help End Homelessness

Developers would be incentivized if they set aside units to place roofs over the heads of homelessness victims, under new proposals by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency Board.

Agency leaders would also place more affordable units in areas of high-performing school districts and significant job growth, foster creation of mixed-income properties and limit expansion in spots that already contain large volumes of federal and state-financed low- and moderate-income housing.
The recommendations, according to a statement released by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, would alter the state's Qualified Allocation Plan that distributes tax credits to developers within the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program.
Among other facets of the proposals, developers would be given incentives for providing social support programs to help homelessness victims transition into dwellings, and encourage urban improvements by allocating 40 percent of all awards to urban target areas.
Officials say that New Jersey receives about $18,000,000 in low-income tax credits, which translate to more than $162,000,000 in project equity after they're sold.
The proposals are subject to finalization. After they're published in the New Jersey Register on July 2, anyone who wishes to submit comments will have 60 days to do so.
Last month, an executive order by Governor Chris Christie created the Interagency Council on Homelessness, to identify and address the needs of people living on the streets and in the woods and to maximize efficient delivery of services to them.

The Council has until the end of 2014 to create a 10-year plan to end the condition statewide.