Proponents of the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) mandates claim this housing proposal will provide for police officers and teachers who want to live in their communities. They claim it is for our young people who want to stay in the New Jersey. This sounds nice--if you want your child graduating college and moving into a government housing unit, alongside those described on page 15 of the 2006 Housing Report. A careful examination of this report reveals that police and teachers are never mentioned except in a paragraph that references below market mortgages available through the Police and Firefighters Retirement System (PFRS), mainly because police and teachers earn well above the median average for their communities. . No where does this report call for the provision of such housing.

The report does, however, outline who is eligible:

In 1911, when “Trenton Makes-the World Takes” was adopted as Trenton’s official slogan and the famous sign built on the approach to Trenton, 10% of America’s population lived within 75 miles of Trenton. The free market met the demands of a growing and diverse population with innovations like Sears’s homes, row housing, mansions, Cape Cod homes and more. Now, with New Jersey experiencing increased outward migration, the Trenton planners want to step in and second guess our needs and wants, replacing the success that made New Jersey an economic powerhouse with massive entitlement housing projects.

• Call-in and speak-out

• Support your legislators on Assembly Bill 3570: http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/2008/Bills/A4000/3570_I1.PDF

• Keep informed
http://www.state.nj.us/dca/affiliates/coah/index.html
http://www.state.nj.us/dca/affiliates/coah/reports/newthirdround.xls