Court Blocks State’s Latest Try to Seize COAH Cash

Municipalities have won yet another reprieve from having to give more than $164 million in affordable-housing funds to New Jersey.

A state appeals court panel late Monday issued a temporary injunction to stop the state from taking the money to help balance its budget. The Appellate Division of Superior Court issued a stay of the state Council on Affordable Housing’s attempt to seize municipal affordable housing trust fund money that has gone unspent for more than four years.

Judge Jose L. Fuentes, who signed the order, set oral arguments for June 5 in Newark. Fair Share Housing Center sought the injunction last Friday, after COAH met on May 1 for the first time in more than two years and authorized its staff to begin the process of taking the money from municipalities.

COAH was supposed to have sent the funds to the state by May 22. When the state initially sought the money last summer, it had estimated the amount at $142 million. Now, because COAH is seeking all the money unspent through March 31, Fair Share and the New Jersey State League of Municipalities estimate the amount is about $164 million.

“We welcome and appreciate the Court’s prompt action,” said Janice S. Mironov, president of the league and mayor of East Windsor. “The state’s attempted efforts to take municipal trust funds lacks any fairness or logic, coming after the lack of state regulations to guide municipal spending and COAH’s failure to meet for well over two years.”

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