To the Editor:
In response to your review and opinion column, affordable housing is dead in the water.
There is simply no money to be made on rental housing after paying increased property taxes, assorted fees, township zoning requirements, and associated legal and engineering costs on a zoning application. If the application is denied, this money is not refunded.
In my situation, a pre-existing nonconforming structure was rezoned as a one-bedroom rental house. The cost of rezoning was $7,000 due to the expertise of my lawyer. He talked the township out of unnecessary regulations that might apply to a large project, but not mine. The cost could have been much greater.
I contracted out the construction at a reasonable cost, but remodeling done right is not cheap. The house has all new HVAC and has been extensively remodeled to the tune of $80,000.
The house could have been remodeled in one year and been on the market, but, due to township rules and bureaucracy, it took four years.
I have paid property taxes on a rental house for four years that’s still under construction with no code of occupancy.
I estimate it will take a minimum of 12 years to break even.
When Gov. Murphy declared executive orders of no rent for two years, I invoked my constitutional rights and took the house off the market.
I refuse to provide free rent when our government declines to offer landlords any economic assistance. If it was Trenton’s intention to destroy the housing market, they succeeded.
When I applied for an electrical permit and was given assurance I could have an electric meter, this was also denied. The township refused to refund my money for a mistake they made until the state ordered a refund of my fee. The biggest hurdle of my construction project, and the determination to provide affordable housing, was, and is, the Middle Township administration.
The Fair Share Housing Center has sued Middle Township for the lack of housing for low and moderate-income citizens.
I attended a zoning meeting for a 24-townhouse development adjacent to my property. I requested a fence. Denied. At full occupancy, the development will contain a minimum of 144 people. No fence around an impound pond.
No sidewalks or curbs in the development. Reduced parking. Reduced street lighting. No sidewalk along Shell Bay Avenue to Route 9.
I asked how many units would be low or moderate-income? None. How much would each townhouse cost? No answer. I would estimate $400,000 to $500,000 in this market. I asked to make a statement in the public interest. After 30 seconds, as I began to talk of a need for affordable housing, my mic was cut.
What happened to open and respectful dialogue? The right to petition government? Are our elected officials supposed to listen to all concerns, or just the moneyed interests of those with deeper pockets than mine?
I asked for an electrical meter for my pole barn. Denied.
Yet, a developer is given all requested items.
Mayor Donohue has refused to return my phone calls. Committeeman Gandy is investigating my predicament. My argument is not with township employees, it is with an administration that is unyielding, disrespectful, and not representing all its citizens. I am open to resolution.
Until the rights of small landlords are recognized, expect affordable housing to become extinct.
– DAVID ROBINSON
Court House
