September 2025

AFFORDABLE HOUSING... from page 22.

able unit to exceed the housing costs specified in these regula tions is prohibited. If renovations or charges related to a special assessment do not impact or ben efit affordable units, affordable unit owners may not be subject to the special assessment charge. (emphasis added) The rule on its face contradicts itself by first providing that all units must be assessed based on their common interest percentage but then prohibits assessment increases to affordable units if the increase exceeds the affordable owner’s “housing costs.” Putting that issue aside, the rule provides that affordable homes are not subject to increased maintenance assessments if increases exceed the “housing costs specified in these reg ulations” or if a special assessment does not “impact or benefit” the affordable unit. The term “impact or benefit” is undefined. This rule has the unintended conse quence of reducing the affordability of housing in New Jersey. Prohibiting increases in association fees on afford able units will only cause market-rate units to subsidize affordable units and bear higher increases, thus making those units more difficult to afford. Also, expecting community associa tions to calculate “housing costs” for affordable unit owners in order to understand how much they can assess that affordable unit is impractical and further increases the already challeng

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SEPTEMBER 2025