What is COAH?
The Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) was created in 1985 as the result of a series of New Jersey Supreme Court cases known as the Mount Laurel decisions. The Mount Laurel decisions established that each of the 566 municipalities in the state have a constitutional obligation to provide real housing opportunities for low-Housing that can be afforded by a household earning 50% or less of the housing region’s median gross income for a household of the same size. and moderate-Housing that can be afforded by a household earning more than 50% but less than 80% of the housing region’s median gross income for a household of the same size. income households. COAH is charged with helping all municipalities honor that constitutional obligation.

What does COAH do?
As an 11 member board appointed by the Governor, COAH is responsible for creating the rules and regulations governing when and how municipalities will provide affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households. COAH creates housing regions throughout the state, estimates affordable housing needs in each region, apportions a  fair shareThe target number of affordable units a municipality must provide as part of its COAH plan. of those needs to each municipality in the region, sets criteria and guidelines for municipalities to address their own fair share numbers, and reviews the resulting municipal fair share/housing element plans for compliance with COAH regulations.

The COAH Process
While the courts have ruled that every municipality has an obligation to provide affordable housing, New Jersey municipalities are not required to enter the COAH process. There are currently about 288 municipalities voluntarily working with COAH. They do so by developing and filing a Master Plan housing element and a fair share plan. These documents describe how a municipality will provide a realistic opportunity to provide for its COAH fair share of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households. Within two years of filing a housing element and fair share plan, municipalities must petition COAH for substantive certification (approval) of the plans. Petitioning ensures a municipality remains under COAH's jurisdiction and assures continued protection from lawsuits challenging its affordable housing plan during the process. Once the petition is submitted, COAH reviews the plan, and works with the municipality on required revisions. COAH may also mediate objections from interested parties (builders and landowners) before it grants or denies substantive certification. Substantive certification is granted for a ten-year period. It may be withdrawn if a municipality fails to advance its plan and meet its obligation to provide its fair share of affordable housing. Approximately every 6 years COAH reviews and recalculates every municipality’s fair share numbers and issues new regulations governing affordable housing. In December 2004, COAH implemented the Third Round of regulations and fair share requirements.

Why do we need to be certified?
Municipalities that choose to enter the COAH process and obtain substantive certification of their fair share plans are provided protection when developers mount a legal challenge to their housing plan. Without COAH certification, such lawsuits often result in the imposition of "builder's remedies" which allow builders to build many more houses at much higher densities in return for marketing some of the homes as affordable. Approximately 85 municipalities without certification have been sued for exclusionary zoning. The outcome of such lawsuits is usually large residential developments, rapid growth, and greatly increased demands on a municipality's infrastructure and support services.

Is Springfield Township Certified?
Springfield Township has participated in the COAH process since the first round. We are currently in Round Two and received our substantive certification in January 2004, after several years of mediation with objectors to our plan. Springfield’s Round Two fair share obligation is 68 units. Our housing plan uses a number of options to provide the required units, including accessory apartmentsA self-contained residential dwelling unit with a kitchen, sanitary facilities, sleeping quarters, and a private entrance, which is created within an existing home, or through the conversion of an existing attached accessory structure on the same site, or by the addition of an existing home or accessory building., a group homeA structure, regulated by the state, in which unrelated persons live under supervision in distinct bedrooms, but share kitchen and plumbing facilities, central heat, and common areas. The dwelling may provide transitional facilities for the homeless or permanent facilities for the developmentally or physically disabled., a Regional Contribution Agreement (RCA)The transfer, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:27D-312, of up to 50 percent of a municipality’s fair share obligation to another municipality within its housing region by means of a contractual agreement into which two municipalities voluntarily enter. with Beverly, rehabilitation of existing units, and a mortgage buy-downWriting-down or buying-down the cost of a previously owned market rate unit or otherwise providing for the construction of a market rate unit and offering it in sound condition at affordable prices to low and moderate income households. option.

How do we satisfy our COAH obligation?
COAH offers a number of options for providing affordable housing, and with each round’s new rules, additional options are made available. For its Round Two plan, Springfield used most of the available options to meet our fair share obligation. The breakdown to provide for 68 affordable units is as follows: credit for 1 unit is provided thru a write-down/buy-down or mortgage assistance program; credit for 8 units is provided thru a group home, credit for 10 units is provided thru the creation of accessory apartments, credit for 15 units is created thru the rehabilitation of existing dwellings, and credit for 34 units is provided thru a Regional Contribution Agreement with Beverly.

Isn’t COAH expensive?
Providing for our affordable housing obligation isn’t cheap. Springfield estimates it will spend about $1,000,000 to satisfy its Round Two obligation - $640,000 for the RCA program, $150,000 for the rehabilitation program, $100,000 for the accessory apartment program, and the remainder for the write-down/buy-down program and administration of the plan. These are big numbers, especially the RCA program. But to a municipality like Springfield, where high-density housing and apartment complexes are not appropriate, RCA’s are a very cost effective way to satisfy half of our COAH requirement. The alternative would be to provide areas, through zoning, where developers would be required to build affordable units. In return, the developer would get to build 4 "market rate"Housing within an inclusionary development, not restricted to low and moderate income households, that may sell at any price determined by a willing seller and a willing buyer. units for every affordable unit. So, to get 34 affordable units, a total of 170 new homes must be built. The financial impact of that kind of rapid growth on Springfield would be many times the $640,000 spent on the RCA program.

What’s next?
Due to recently passed legislation, Springfield will have to develop and submit a new plan for the 3rd round of COAH by May of 2007. For the 3rd Round, we will have to show how we will provide the opportunity for as many as 55 to 60 more affordable units (over and above our round 2 numbers). Although our Round 3 plan is still in development, the council has already put in place a “Growth Share” ordinance that requires developers to provide for COAH affordable units as they build the market rate homes that create the obligation. Another component of our Round 3 plan will be a group home on Jacksonville Rd. This group home will be a single family, 5 bedroom, handicap accessible house, which will be the home to 5 developmentally or physically disabled adults that work in the area.