The embattled state Council on Affordable Housing held its first meeting in two years Wednesday and voted to let the Christie administration take back $140 million that towns had set aside for affordable housing projects.
The regulatory agency had been forced into limbo by Gov. Chris Christie's attempt to dismantle it, and failing that, to name a political appointee to control housing policies.
At a highly argumentative meeting, as reported in The Record, the council decided to let the governor take the money, needed to help balance the budget for the fiscal year ending June 30. Town officials and affordable housing advocates said that the funds are badly needed to help build housing post-Hurricane Sandy.
One community, Middle Township, has filed an emergency legal action against the state, contending that a development of 150 apartments would be jeopardized without the COAH allocation.
The Christie administration's position is that towns moved too slowly to use the housing project money and now it should revert to the state for urgent purposes.
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