N.J. Admin. Code § 5:80-7.5 - Priorities and preferences

(a) Owners may give priority or preference for admission to otherwise eligible applicants in (b) and (c) below so long as such priorities and preferences are consistent with the fair housing laws and the owner's Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan.

(b) Handicapped, disabled, displaced and substandard housing applicants shall be treated as follows:

1. For all units, owners must give preference to applicants who are either living in substandard housing or are displaced by government action or activity.

2. For all units designed specifically for the elderly, owners must give priority to elderly, handicapped and disabled applicants on an equal basis.

3. For all barrier free or partially barrier free units designed specifically for handicapped or disabled persons, owners must give first priority to handicapped or disabled persons who need the modified design to permit them to operate independently with comparative ease under normal circumstances. All other handicapped or disabled persons will be given second priority. The elderly will be given third priority.

(c) Residency preference shall be as follows:

1. While owners may not require local residency as a pre-requisite for admission, with Agency and HUD approval, owners may give priority to residents of the municipality (here defined as the smallest unit of government, that is, town, city, county) in which the project is located.

2. The Agency will approve the use of local residency preferences only if such preferences will not be inconsistent with equal opportunity requirements or frustrate achievement of the goals of the Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan. For example, if the Agency determines that affirmative marketing goals and objectives cannot reasonably be achieved with a residency preference for all units, the Agency may deny a request for use of residency preferences or approve it for only a portion of the units. For example, where the affirmative marketing goal is five or 10 percent of the units in a project, the agency may approve a residency preference for only 95 or 90 percent of the units. Residency preferences may be used during initial rent-up and to fill vacancies occurring subsequent to the rent-up period.

i. When applying residency preferences, persons expected to reside in the municipality as a result of current or planned employment must be counted as residents. "Planned employment" means that an individual has a bona fide offer to work in the municipality.

ii. If there are applicants on the chronological waiting list, the owner may select a resident over a non-resident even if the non-resident is higher on the waiting list or exhibits greater need. However, if there are no eligible residents on the waiting list, an owner cannot hold a unit open until an eligible resident is found.

iii. If certain categories of applicants are targeted on the Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan and if there are insufficient numbers of such applicants who are residents of the municipality, then the owner must solicit those applicants from outside the municipality.

(d) In the case of assisted living residences (ALRs), preferences and priorities may be set according to the New Jersey Medicaid procedures and guidelines or the guidelines of any other insurer that may be paying for the costs of services to the applicant.

Notes

N.J. Admin. Code § 5:80-7.5

Amended by R.1998 d.80, effective 2/2/1998.
See: 29 New Jersey Register 3214(a), 30 New Jersey Register 539(b).
Added (d).