ASSEMBLY HOUSING COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1603

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: SEPTEMBER 19, 1996

      The Assembly Housing Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1603.

      This bill clarifies that the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency may make life safety improvement loans to boarding houses to remedy construction and fire safety code violations, or to remedy a violation of regulations issued pursuant to the "Rooming and Boarding House Act of 1979," P.L.1979, c. 496. Currently, this loan making authority is being interpreted as being limited to making loans to remedy only fire safety code violations.

      Boarding house operators need low cost financing to remedy construction code violations and violations of rooming and boarding house regulations, as well as fire safety code violations, to ensure that their structures are safe for their residents. In addition, remedying a fire safety code violation often is conditioned upon concurrently remedying a construction code violation. Without financial assistance to remedy the construction code violation or the rooming and boarding house regulation violation, the fire safety code violation cannot be remedied. The bill will help operators to obtain funds to repair their facilities, obviating the need for some facilities to close.