Assembly Panel to Consider Christie Plan to Raid Affordable Housing Funding

(TRENTON) – The Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee will meet Wednesday to take testimony on the Christie administration’s effort to raid $161 million in affordable housing money from New Jersey municipalities.

The Assembly Housing and Local Government Committee will meet on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. in Committee Room 16, on the 4th Floor of the State House Annex in Trenton.

Audio of the hearing will be streamed at http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/media/live_audio.asp,

            The money is meant to help low-income families, but the Christie administration wants to take it from 372 municipalities to instead plug holes in its budget. The Legislature tried to stop Gov. Christie’s plan with legislation (A-2950) and budget language, but Christie vetoed both.

“New Jersey is one of the most expensive states in the nation to live in,” said Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Jerry Green (D-Union/Middlesex/Somerset), the chairman of the housing panel. “If these vetoes are any indication, the governor wants to keep it that way. Unlike the million dollar earners he so vehemently protects, not everyone can afford a decent place to live. We sought to tackle this imbalance, but like other legislation aimed at helping working class families, the governor nixed it.”