Who Needs Affordable Housing

More people than you might realize. The economic expansion of the 1990s obscured certain trends and statistics that point to an increased, not decreased, need for affordable housing. The generally accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay no more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing. Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care.

An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more then 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing, and a family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.

The lack of affordable housing is a significant hardship for low-income households preventing them from meeting their other basic needs, such as nutrition and healthcare, or saving for their future and that of their families.

Creating More Affordable Housing

Numerous coalitions of non-profit organizations, business, religious organizations, financial institutions and government are joining hands around the country to create more affordable housing. A key component to the success of these efforts is to develop public information programs to increase the receptivity to affordable housing at local, regional, and national levels.

Element & Fair Share Plan

The Township of Livingston recognizes the need to continue to provide affordable housing within the Township and has adopted a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan. The goal of this plan is to:

  • Provide housing opportunities for lower income families in order to meet the existing and anticipated housing needs of such persons, maintain a socio-economic mix in the community, provide a range of housing types dispersed throughout the community in a suitable living environment, and satisfy the community’s obligation to provide a fair share of the region’s housing needs;
  • Assure that the lower income units constructed under this program continue to remain available to lower income households through controls on rental and resale prices to be exercised by the Township of Livingston, and
  • Provide that developments which create additional affordable housing demand within Livingston share in the provision of providing such affordable housing, including commercial and institutional developments.

Laws Regarding Affordable Housing

The units shall be subject to the regulations of the State of New Jersey and may include family or senior citizens’ housing construction, rentals of vacant rehabilitation units, and alternative living arrangements. This program is intended to be consistent with the provisions of N.J.A.C. 5:93 et sequence, effective June 6, 1994 and the Fair Housing Act of 1985.

This page will be updated with additional information and will establish regulations applicable to those designated low and moderate income housing units which will be created in the Township subsequent to a grant of Substantive Certification by COAH.