Affordable Housing Not ‘Dirty Word;’ Complying When Numbers Don’t Work

SWAINTON – “Affordable housing shouldn’t be a dirty word. COAH (Council on Affordable Housing) shouldn’t be a dirty word. It should be easier to provide for people. It should be looked at something you are able to accommodate. The problem is, you are being forced to accommodate something that is unrealistic to accommodate and becomes harder and more costly for everyone to address,” Tiffany Cuviello, a planner, told Cape May County League of Municipalities Feb. 23 at Avalon Links.
“Even if you have provided and satisfied your round one and two obligations, which a lot of municipalities have filed and have approvals for…, you did what you were supposed to do, and now all of a sudden you are stuck in this abyss of “Well, we did everything we were supposed to do. We have no more room. How are we supposed to provide more units, and how are we supposed to provide so many more units than we actually have than our year-round residents?
“If you count your year-round population in the shore communities and you look at some of your affordable housing obligations, what are the percentages? I’m sure it’s not proportional as if you were a year-round community. Use that information when you are talking to the judge. Use that information when you are talking to the master.
“Do what you can to show that you have a willingness to provide something, and you’ll get to a better ground with the court system at this point in time, but you can’t walk away, you’ve already entered the process,” Cuviello continued.
Listening to her were Cape May County mayors and elected officials who are seeking answers to the numbers imposed by COAH requirements on their municipalities.
Affordability means different things to various segments of the population. How units are priced is broken into moderate, low and very low income.
“What is the standard for getting into affordable housing?” asked one official. Cuviello replied someone like a first-year school teacher who is in a lower pay level.
Cuviello said the county is in Region 6 which means median income for one person is $51,000 annually, and a four-person household is $73,000. Those earning below those levels fall into affordable housing.
“You’re not talking about people with no money,” she said. Those in affordable units are not Section 8 participants, but must be able to pay their own rent. Those buying affordable units must qualify for mortgages, Cuviello said.
Avalon Councilmen William Burns cited land prices in that borough where lots are 60 by 110 feet, and may sell for $1 million or more. “If you break all laws on the books maybe you can get four units on there. I don’t know how many bedrooms your rules require,” he said. “It depends on how many units provided are affordable,” she replied.
“So you spend $1 million to build it, and you’ve got $1 million for a cheap lot in Stone Harbor or Avalon. OK, you’ve got $2 million. Where’s this rent supposed to be that’s affordable or the mortgage? What is the magical number?” Burns asked. “What’s the sale price?”
There are two types of affordable housing projects, Cuviello replied. “The 100 percent where all four units are affordable. That’s where they are getting subsidies,” she said. “The other way to build affordable housing is to mix them, market rates with the affordable units.”
In that method, a builder could build four units if one was affordable. “Now you’re making your money on those three to offset the cost of that fourth one,” she added.
“What am I subsidizing?” Burns asked. He added, that would mean “Selling three units for $1 million apiece and the other for $115,000. Who’s going to want to live in that place?”
While Stone Harbor Councilman Barry Mastrangelo agreed a population increase would help schools and other borough factors, but wondered, “How do you make it work? Not at those prices.”
“Rules to implement the affordable housing are very problematic,” Cuviello admitted. The 30-year restriction means every time an affordable unit is sold, it gets renewed another 30 years, “So it never goes away,” she added.
“You see why you can’t talk apartment owners into buying into it?” Mastrangelo said.
Cuviello was asked what the best method of selection would be if there were many applications for affordable units. A lottery, if there is a large waiting list, she said.