EVERY development currently being built in the Township is the result of Medford’s court mandated affordable housing obligation. I believe I can speak for everyone on Council that we would not have approved ANY of these developments if it wasn’t for these mandates from the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Many people question that some of these houses cost hundreds of thousands of dollars how can we call it affordable. The Council On Affordable Housing (COAH) has certain standards that have to be met. We are limited on how much affordable senior housing there is and how much of the projects can be 100% affordable. Most must be what is called inclusionary. This means anywhere from 10% to 30% can be affordable units and the rest HAS to be market rate housing.
Part of the reason is that the market rate units help subsidize the builders’ losses on the affordable units.
Our original requirement was 805 affordable units which would have allowed developers to build 5366 market rate units. Fortunately, by negotiating early, we were able to negotiate that number down to 298 affordable units and 744 market rate units for a total of 1,042 homes, apartments or townhouses. While this number is more than any of us would like it was a good solution to a bad situation forced upon us by the State of NJ.
For more information, visit the Affordable Housing page on the Township website by clicking HERE or using this URL: https://www.medfordtownship.com/affordablehousing
The November 2016 Affordable Housing Settlement Agreement synopsis can be found HERE or by using this URL:
https://www.medfordtownship.com/filestorage/233/534/Affordable_Housing_settlement_summary_11-16-16_DMEAST_27547999(3).pdf