John Fio Rito
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Question 1: Verona, like most other New Jersey towns, now faces the prospect of more development for affordable housing. What steps would you take to mitigate the potential impact of development in Verona?
As your Councilman I would work to institute the long term, pragmatic policy integrated into the master zoning plan that distributes small numbers of affordable units into new construction projects so we build supply over time and show an effort to meet the State requirement. This concept is referred to as inclusionary zoning and it can be customized and calibrated to meet both the State mandated requirements as well protecting Verona from massive, single-use overdevelopment. In other words, we would sprinkle units here and there as new buildings are built over time as opposed to concentrating them in a single, massive “cure all” development.
That’s one answer and it’s been effective in other municipalities in both demonstrating good faith with regard to meeting State mandated requirements as well thwarting explosive development. However, the affordable housing dilemma and its potential impact on suburban communities like Verona is a complex issue that oftentimes results in misconceptions.
In full disclosure, I received a HUD grant to create affordable housing for victims of Super Storm Sandy left homeless. As a grant recipient, I went through a multi-year education on the process, the bureaucracy, benefits, pitfalls, delays and oversight. I spent nearly two years with the initial approval process and construction and have been an affordable housing landlord for the last 4 years. This not a topic to be learned on the fly, especially when the repercussions of poor and uninformed decisions can have a generational impact on Verona.
When you read the words – affordable housing – immediately, visions of an influx of people from urban areas coming to overcrowd our schools and stress the Town’s resources come to mind. There’s another vision.
HUD defines cost burdened families as those who pay more than 30% of their income to housing. So “affordable” simply means a housing cost that doesn’t exceed 30% of household income. Household income is then broken down into several categories – median income, moderate income (80% of median), low income (less than 80% of median), 60% of median, very low income (less the 50% of median) and 30% of median. It can get quite involved.
The median household income of Verona is $100,366 (Google). That means if a household earns $79,000 a year, it is, by definition – low income. If a household income is less than $50,000 it’s defined as very low income. Who makes less than $50,000? A new Verona police officer. A Patrolman, Step 1 in the VPD makes about $41,000; and is, by definition, very low income and qualifies for affordable housing. It’s almost criminal that a Verona cop – charged with protecting and serving Verona – probably can’t afford to live in Verona. Retirees whose pension or savings deductions are less than $80,000 are, by definition, low income. We don’t want or need to import people into Verona who fit this description, they are already here and part of our community. On the topic of Community, a “community” cannot just consist of 35-55 year old “earners” and ignore the two ends of the spectrum – high school and college graduates at entry level positions in the job market, and retirees; both of whom generally earn less than the median income.
Affordable housing is not necessarily the boogey man that it is portrayed to be, however it certainly could be if Verona does not take control of the situation and establish a policy for the long term. The Mt. Laurel Doctrine of 1975 has been litigated in NJ for nearly 50 years, it’s not going away and to continue to expend financial resources on unending litigation is not a sound policy. Without a policy – as opposed to short term, stop gap actions – the State could take control of the process and through “Builder’s Remedy Lawsuits” developers may obtain court ordered approvals that have the very real possibility of high density, multifamily housing being built to satisfy our affordable housing requirements without our input.
The Annin Lofts development is an example of a lack of long term policy and vision. Annin has 100+ units, none of which are designated Affordable, yet the developer received a long term tax abatement; Ordinance 2017-04 indicates 30 years. Long term tax abatements are to encourage development in distressed markets like Irvington and East Orange, not Verona. This was a sorely missed opportunity for the Township to offset a portion of its State mandated housing requirement and it’s a result of short term thinking, versus a long term vision and policy.
The Township’s current initiative with respect to the affordable housing dilemma is to buy Cameco for $3.1MM and develop approximately 60 low income, affordable housing units. That’s one solution, however the strategy of consolidating low income housing into specific geographic areas has generally proven to be less then optimal. A modern strategy of low density, mixed income development where a portion of units are market rate and a portion are affordable is proving to be a more sound policy to address this issue. Since the Township has not yet committed to a final proposal, there’s still an opportunity to modify the plan.
Lastly, there’s really no way to build 100% affordable housing without subsidies (which is why there is usually a mix) and as soon as a developer or Township accepts Federal or State aid, under the Fair Housing Act anything built with that subsidy is open to anyone. In other words, if Verona or its designated redeveloper, takes money from outside Verona, then Verona cannot give preference to Verona residents for that housing; we will be importing people.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading my diatribe. It probably sounds like I’m a staunch advocate of affordable housing and that’s not necessarily the case; I just happen to have experience with it. What I am a staunch advocate of is Verona – and having a plan and a policy to deal with this issue and overdevelopment in general, so we can preserve and enhance what makes Verona a special Community. If you believe overdevelopment is Verona’s greatest threat, then vote for the candidate that has the experience to deal with it.
Well said.