Toms River City Zoning Code
§ 348-11.5
Administration of affordable housing program.
A.
Piazza & Associates will be the agency under contract with the Township of Toms River to administer the affordable housing program and/or affordable housing units in accordance with the requirements of the FHA, NJAC 5:99-1 et seq. and UHAC. Piazza & Associates shall perform the duties and responsibilities of an administrative agent as are set forth in UHAC, including but not limited to those set forth in N.J.A.C. 5:80-26.14, 5:80-26.16 and 5:80-26.18 thereof. As applicable for any prior units under HAS oversight, HAS maintains the responsibility to advertise, income qualify low- and moderate-income households; to place eligible households in low- and moderate-income units upon initial occupancy; to continue to qualify households for reoccupancy of units as they become vacant and to enforce the terms of the deed restriction. The Township of Toms River and/or Piazza & Associates will provide counseling services to low- and moderate-income applicants on subjects such as budgeting, credit issues, mortgage qualifications, rental lease requirements and landlord-tenant law. In addition, the Township of Toms River shall designate that the AH administrator and/or a full-time Municipal Housing Liaison (MHL) act as liaison between the municipality, and Piazza & Associates. The MHL will be responsible for tracking the progress of affordable housing, fielding inquiries regarding affordable housing from the public, and complying with monitoring and reporting requirements as per N.J.A.C. 5:93-11.6 and 5:93-12.1.
B.
An operating manual shall be provided by the AH administrator to be adopted by resolution of the governing body and subject to approval of the Superior Court. The operating manual shall be available for public inspection in the office of the Municipal Clerk and in the office(s) of the AH administrator.
C.
The position of Municipal Housing Liaison (MHL) for the Township of Toms River is established by this article. The Township of Toms River shall designate a full-time or part-time employee of the Township as the Municipal Housing Liaison between the municipality and AH administrator and/or HAS. The Municipal Housing Liaison will be responsible for oversight of the affordable housing program including tracking the progress of affordable housing; fielding inquiries regarding affordable housing from the public, interested households, the state, and affordable housing providers; and complying with monitoring and reporting requirements. The Municipal Housing Liaison must meet the requirements for qualifications, including initial and periodic training. The Municipal Housing Liaison is responsible for satisfying municipal affordable housing monitoring and reporting requirements.
D.
The Township shall comply with the following monitoring and reporting requirements regarding the status of the implementation of its court-approved Housing Element and Fair Share Plan:
(1)
The Township shall provide electronic monitoring data with the Department pursuant to P.L. 2024, Chapter 2 and N.J.A.C. 5:99 through the Affordable Housing Monitoring System (AHMS). All monitoring information required to be made public by the FHA shall be available to the public on the Department's website at https://www.nj.gov/dca/dlps/hss/MuniStatusReporting.shtml.
(2)
On or before February 15 of each year, the Township shall provide annual reporting of its municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund activity to the Department on the AHMS portal. The reporting shall include an accounting of all municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund activity, including the sources and amounts of funds collected and the amounts and purposes for which any funds have been expended, for the previous year from January 1st to December 31st.
(3)
On or before February 15 of each year, the annual reporting of the status of all affordable housing activity shall be provided to the Department on the AHMS portal, for the previous year from January 1st to December 31st.
E.
Developers/builders/sponsors of low- and moderate-income housing units may be required by the Township of Toms River to assist in the advertising of affordable units in their respective developments in accordance with the preceding subsections. Such advertising must be coordinated with Piazza & Associates and is subject to the approval of the Township of Toms River.
F.
The Township of Toms River, in conjunction with Piazza & Associates, may delegate other specific tasks to a developer/builder/sponsor (such as interviewing applicants, prescreening households, etc.), provided that copies of all applications, income verification documents, sales records, etc., of the low- and moderate-income units are returned to HAS for reporting purposes and to aid with future resales.
G.
Households who live or work in the housing region of Monmouth, Mercer and Ocean Counties may be given preference for the affordable housing units within the municipality. Applicants living outside the housing region shall have an equal opportunity for units after intraregional applicants have been processed.
H.
The administrative agent shall comply with monitoring and reporting requirements as per N.J.S.A. 52:27D-301, et seq., and the settlement agreement entered into and approved by the Superior Court of New Jersey, Ocean County, on December 31, 2016, In the Matter of the Township of Toms River for a Judgment of Compliance of Its Third Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, Docket No. OCN-L-001867-15 and Township of Toms River Fourth Round Mediation Agreement, Docket No. OCN-L-331-25
