MONROE, NJ–The New Jersey Apartment Association is calling on Gov. Chris Christie to veto a bill that would curb rent increases for residents of age-restricted housing.

The measure that won final legislative approval last week would change existing state law governing local rent control ordinances to specifically protect tenants age 55-and-over who may be living on fixed incomes, according to its Senate sponsors, Joseph F. Vitale and Linda R. Greenstein.

“When owners of rental units bait seniors with low introductory rates and then switch to higher rates after filling the units, the results can be catastrophic for senior tenants,” said Vitale, a Democrat, from Middlesex.

Vitale said the legislation was written in response to concerns from people living in the age-restricted community of Woodbridge Hills in Woodbridge Township. Because new-built age-restricted housing complexes now have a 30-year exemption from rent control, residents at Woodbridge Hills were faced with rent increases between 16.5% and 17.9 % the over the past several years.

New Jersey does not have statewide rent control, per se, but it does regulate standards by which municipalities can impose their own rent control measurs.

Conor Fennessy of the NJAA said Vitale and the bills other sponsors were trying to “cloak” a job-killing measure that will hurt the economy in the guise of helping senior citizens.

“It took six years and numerous attempts by the Senate sponsor to muscle this bill through the Legislature, but in an election year, good policy often suffers at the hands of political expediency,” said Fennessy.

“This was a highly divisive, high partisan vote,” he said. Fennessy contends that implementing the bill would “actually make housing more expensive for seniors” by quelling construction of new senior housing.

“Not only will the bill fail to accomplish its objective of controlling rental housing costs for seniors who are 55 or older, but it will chill job recovery in the building trades by halting construction of new senior buildings,” Fennessy said. Also, he said the change would “burden cash-strapped municipalities by eliminating one of the most appealing options for new residential development - housing for seniors.”

Fennessy noted that the exisintg policy exempting new rental housing from local rent controls has been “essential” to the economic development in urban centers.

“From the “Gold Coast” in Hoboken, Port Imperial, and Jersey City to market-rate projects in Newark, New Brunswick, Long Branch, Trenton, and Camden, scores of buildings that are now home to thousands of New Jersey's working families would not have been possible without this commitment from the state to safeguard new construction from the well-known ills of local rent control,” he said.

The New Jersey Builders Association has also called for a Christie veto.

Instant Insights /

Landlord Group: 'Veto Senior Rent Control'

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