Raritan City Zoning Code

Serving as the Borough's primary point of contact for all inquiries from the state, affordable housing providers, administrative agents, and interested households;

Monitoring the status of all restricted units in the Borough's Fair Share Plan;

Compiling, verifying, and submitting annual reports as required by DCA;

Coordinating meetings with affordable housing providers and administrative agents, as applicable;

Attending continuing education opportunities on affordability controls, compliance monitoring, and affirmative marketing as offered or approved by DCA;

Conduct an outreach process to ensure affirmative marketing of affordable housing units in accordance with the Affirmative Marketing Plan of the Borough as part of this chapter and DCA regulations; and

Provide counseling or contract to provide counseling services to low- and moderate-income applicants on subjects such as budgeting, credit issues, mortgage qualification, rental lease requirements, and landlord/tenant law.

Solicit, schedule, conduct and follow up on interviews with interested households;

Conduct interviews and obtain sufficient documentation of gross income and assets upon which to base a determination of income eligibility for the specific type of affordable unit;

Provide written notification to each applicant as to the determination of eligibility or noneligibility;

Require that all certified applicants for restricted units execute a certificate substantially in the form, as applicable, of either the ownership or rental certificates set forth in DCA regulations;

Create and maintain a referral list of eligible applicant households living in the housing region and eligible applicant households with members working in the housing region where the units are located; and

Employ the random selection process as provided in the Affirmative Marketing Plan of the Borough as part of this chapter when referring households for certification to affordable units.

Furnish to closing agents forms of deed restrictions and mortgages for recording at the time of conveyance of title of each restricted unit;

Create and maintain a file on each restricted unit for its control period, including the recorded deed with restrictions, recorded mortgage and note, as appropriate;

Ensure that the removal of the deed restrictions and cancellation of the mortgage are effectuated and properly filed with the appropriate county recording officer after the termination of the affordability controls for each restricted unit;

Communicate with lenders regarding foreclosures; and

Ensure compliance with DCA regulations requiring continuing certificates of occupancy.

Institute and maintain an effective means of communicating information between owners and the administrative agent regarding the availability of restricted units for sale or rent; and

Institute and maintain an effective means of communicating information to households qualifying for affordable housing regarding the availability of affordable units for resale or rerental.

Review and approve requests from owners of restricted units who wish to take out home equity loans or refinance during the term of their ownership;

Review and approve requests to increase sales prices from owners of restricted units who wish to make capital improvements to the units that would affect the selling price; and

Process requests and make determinations on requests by owners of restricted units for hardship waivers.

Ensure, at least annually, that all affordable housing units are lawfully occupied;

Secure from all developers and sponsors of restricted units, at the earliest point of contact in the processing of the project or development, written acknowledgement of the requirement that no restricted unit can be offered, or in any other way committed, to any person, other than a household duly certified to the unit by the administrative agent;

Annually post a notice in all rental properties as to the maximum permitted rent together with the telephone number of the administrative agent where complaints of excess rent can be made;

Send annual mailings to all owners of affordable dwelling units, reminding them of the notices and requirements outlined in DCA regulations;

Establish a program for diverting unlawful rent payments to the municipality's Affordable Housing Trust Fund or other appropriate municipal fund approved by DCA;

Create and publish a written operating manual, as approved by DCA, setting forth procedures for administering such affordability controls; and

Provide annual reports to DCA as required.

Administrative agents shall be compensated by the developer of affordable units.