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Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness
Legislative Alert: Municipal Housing Trust Fund Extension

Mercer Alliance is supporting legislative efforts to extend the deadline by two years for continued use of municipal housing trust funds for local projects that would include people with disabilities. Please follow the lead of the League of Municipalities and the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey by writing/contacting your state legislators (click here to find your legislator) with a copy or supporting message to Governor Christie (click here for the Governor's contact info) urging this legislation to be adopted and signed into law. Without this public law, municipal housing trust fund dollars that have accrued for the past 4 years will be returned to the state on July 17th.

Here is a sample letter you may use. Please add why this legislation is important to your agency or to you personally:

Dear Legislator/Governor Christie:

I am writing to urge your support for Assembly Bill 2950 and Senate Bill 2011, which will:

1. Extend the deadline to commit municipal housing trust fund dollars from four years from the date of collection to six years. Thus, dollars subject to forfeiture to the State this July would be protected until July 2014; and

2. Provide that any dollars forfeited after six years will either be transferred to the State Affordable housing Trust Fund, or to the County if it has established a Homelessness Trust Fund or if it serves an urban county. This provision allows for the trust fund dollars to be retained and used locally.

The Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness continues to work with our members and partners to enhance foreclosure prevention measures, including implementing the Foreclosure Fairness Act. This law protects tenants’ right to stay in their apartment after foreclosure, and provides strong new tools for communities to preserve and maintain homes during the foreclosure process. We are evaluating several new proposals to address gaps in current programs and policies. One of these, S.1556, a new bill sponsored by Sen. Lesniak, would make more resources available to community developers and CDFIs to help transform foreclosed, unoccupied houses into affordable and market rate homes.

For More Information

Please Contact: Tarry Truitt, Communications and Project Manager, ttruitt@merceralliance.org or 609-844-1008.

 

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