I have never been described politically as anything other than a liberal. A bleeding heart liberal, maybe even. I care about the common man, of which I count myself.
But I do draw the line.
In the 1975, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided that the township of Mt. Laurel was unlawfully excluding low and moderate income families from town. Over the course of the next nine years, the Court found the same happening in Mahwah, Franklin Township, Chester, and again Mt. Laurel.
The result was the Fair Housing Act of 1985. The Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) was formed, under the auspices of the state Department of Community Affairs, to enforce regulations enacted to combat this practice.
COAH’s mission was and is “To facilitate the production of sound, affordable housing for low and moderate income households by providing the most effective process to municipalities, housing, providers, non-profit and for profit developers to address a construction obligation within the framework of sound comprehensive planning.”
Poppycock! Bullfeathers!
What the law said, in effect, was that no matter how nice or exclusive your town is, you will be forced to supply your COAH-mandated quota of low and moderate income housing.
I vigorously oppose this forced integration of different economic levels of people. It’s un-American.
I have an above average income, but I’ve never been so foolhardy to think that I can afford to live in Palm Springs, California or West Palm Beach, Florida or Newport, Rhode Island or a hundred other exclusive locals. I don’t whine about it. I don’t try to force a town to make sure there is a cheap house for me to buy.
Life is economics. You have to live in a community that you can afford. Interference by legislative do-gooders is not right.
My first home was in rural Maine. It’s all I could afford. My next property was in rural North Carolina. Again, it was all I could afford. I understood my place in the economic pecking order and I accepted it. I lived within my means.
My first home in Cape May County was purchased when I was 44 years old. I scrimped and saved. I worked two and three jobs. I never turned down overtime. I was aware that hard work equalled rewards – in this case a nice home at the Jersey shore.
Two communities in Cape May County are being forced to shoulder an unfair burden of affordable housing. By 2018, Middle Township – which includes Rio Grande and Cape May Court House – must supply 934 units. Upper Township is on the hook for 531 units. Yikes, that’s crazy!
The effect on the two school systems, the police force, the services needed will hamper existing homeowners with an even larger tax burden than they already have. And their way of life will change forever.
It’s time to repeal the Fair Housing Act. Government meddles in our lives way too much. COAH is living proof of that.
- Mountain Man