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 Posted: Fri, Apr 11 2008, 8:20 pm EDT Post subject: Cranbury receives grant for affordable housing |
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Cranbury receives grant for affordable housing
By Maria Prato-Gaines, Staff Writer
Posted: Friday, April 11, 2008 12:42 PM EDT
CRANBURY — Cranbury has been approved for a $300,000 grant to be used for affordable housing costs.
The one-time HOME funds grant, approved by Middlesex County and funded by the federal government, will be used to help pay for its affordable housing project on Old Cranbury Road, which is already built, said Mark Berkowsky, president of the Cranbury Housing Associates.
”The money’s available immediately since the project is complete,” he said. “It will defray the cost of the initial funds the town has put into this.”
The township borrowed $1.7 million to build the $2.8 million project.
The housing project is a part of Cranbury’s third round mandated affordable housing obligations and includes 20 units that were open in March.
The state’s affordable housing program was created in 1985, after a state Supreme Court decisions on Mount Laurel I and Mount Laurel II required all municipalities to provide housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents.
The 1985 Fair Housing Act created the state Council on Affordable Housing, which was given responsibility for determining and monitoring each town’s housing obligations. It also created the RCA option. Two previous rounds of affordable housing requirements have been completed and new third rules await the Council on Affordable Housings review and adoption. A state appellate panel ruled in January that some of the new COAH rules, including those that allow municipalities to determine their own housing obligations and allow half their units to be age-restricted were insufficient.
In order to compete with the mounting costs of affordable housing township officials invested in a new employee earlier in the year that they said is responsible for finding this recently approved affordable housing grant.
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http://www.packetonline.com/articles/2008/04/11/cranbury_press/news/doc47ff944362201312718418.prt |
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