CD3 Affordable Housing Dustup

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

On Tuesday, Save Jerseyans, I offered you my two cents on the tax hike allegation in Steve Lonegan’s new CD3 GOP primary ad. Now allies of Lonegan primary rival Tom MacArthur are hitting back against a second allegation, also lodged in the same ad, that MacArthur supported affordable housing projects as mayor of Randolph.

One major MacArthur supporter, Maria Rodriguez-Gregg (R-8), went so far as to charge that Lonegan’s camp “intentionally used the phrase ‘low-income housing’ as a code word meaning that people like me aren’t welcome in our communities or in our party.” I told you this one would get rough quick, folks!

What’s the truth? Here’s a link to the actual town council meeting minutes to which the TV ad refers. It relied primarily on this MacArthur quote…

“My other hope for the new year has to do with housing. I believe the bonds of community are made stronger with diversity and one of my hopes is that we can help residents remain in Randolph during many phases of life.”

Most of us immediately think of COAH when the phrase “affordable housing” enters into the mix, the embodiment of liberal social engineering and centralized planning gone bad (as if there was another way for it to “go”). The Lonegan TV ad leads readers to believe that MacArthur supports the concept of government-mandated affordable housing policies, and that those policies led to the erection of affordable housing in Randolph where MacArthur served as mayor.

The truth is a little more nuanced than all that. As it turns out, reading a little bit further down in the minutes, MacArthur was referring to an initiative co-sponsored by the nonprofit charity Habitat for Humanity:

There are four pending residential projects in Randolph that demonstrate cooperation between the private sector and government. Two commercial projects are for seniors-one for age-restricted townhouses and the other using an assisted living model. A third project is for any age, but designed to appeal to older residents. The fourth project is in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and will result in 26 lower income homes built on land donated by the town in the designated growth center at South Salem Street. We hope it will help revitalize this part of town. [Emphasis added.]

No good conservative wants the government blowing into town and forcing local government to sign off on taxpayer-subsidized housing projects. It’s bad for the taxpayers and the folks who will have to live them. Local residents should be in control of their own destinies, not Trenton hacks. Did we forget how affordable housing ideology helped catalyzed the financial crisis? And at one point in the not-too-distant past right here at home in the Garden State, our Trenton overlords attempted to expand its authority to the point where COAH would’ve functioned as a statewide zoning and planning board with plenary power. It’s unreal.

Unfortunately, New Jersey communities (including MacArthur’s former home base of Randolph and Lonegan’s Bogota) are compelled to comply with Trenton-imposed allocations of “fair share” low income housing by providing a specified number of units meeting the promulgated criteria and, as of 2008, so-called Regional Contribution Agreements (RCAs) are illegal, prohibiting communities from paying other municipalities to share their affordable housing obligations.

The program isn’t optional despite the Christie Administration’s best efforts to kill COAH administratively.

Given that that’s the state of affairs, Randolph chose to permit (1) the construction of a senior and age-restricted community and (2) the privately-funded efforts of Habitat for Humanity conducted on donated land, two efforts combining for a handful of units in a town of 25,000.

Does any of this make MacArthur a liberal social engineer when placed in the proper context? Your call, Save Jerseyans…

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