Affordable-housing deadline may stand

TRENTON - Gov. Corzine cast doubt yesterday on the prospects for delaying the Dec. 31 deadline for towns to provide their affordable-housing plans.

He said, however, that the state would consider revisions after the plans are in.

While Corzine left the door open to a last-minute change, he indicated that he does not have the authority to stall plans that courts say are required.

"There would be no basis to interfere with a constitutional direction when there's nothing on the table that would give you reason to do otherwise," Corzine said.

The final decision rests with the Department of Community Affairs and is under review, said DCA spokesman Chris Donnelly.

Towns have until the end of the year to show how they plan to supply up to 115,000 new units of affordable housing by 2018, a target set by the state under Supreme Court rulings that every community must provide its share of homes for people with low or moderate incomes.

Mayors and some key lawmakers have called for a delay, saying the requirements are too large, based on faulty estimates by the state, and too complex.

Advocates for an extension hoped that introducing a bill to change the affordable-housing system would provide the legal cover to push back the deadline, but the promised legislation has yet to take definitive shape.

Corzine said some communities' affordable-housing requirements may change once they get deeper into planning. Local leaders have said the state inflated requirements by overestimating the amount of space available for new homes.

"We are going to be very attentive to the execution of those plans and revisions of those plans' being a possibility for communities that submit them," Corzine said.