Opinion ID: 2002109
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Present Need.

Text: A municipality's present need for low- and moderate-income housing (present need) is the sum of its indigenous need and its reallocated present need. N.J.A.C. 5:92-5.5. Indigenous need in a municipality is either the actual number of deficient housing units occupied by low- and moderate-income households or, in municipalities in which the proportion of deteriorated low- and moderate-income housing units exceeds the regional percentage, a reduced number that bears the same proportion to the total number of housing units in the municipality as the number of deteriorated low- and moderate-income housing units in the region bears to the total housing units in the region. N.J.A.C. 5:92-5.2; N.J.A.C. 5:92  Appendix A at 92-41 to 43. In those municipalities whose deficient housing units, as a percentage of all housing units, exceeds the regional average, the excess deficient-housing units are accumulated in a regional pool and reallocated to all municipalities in the region's growth area, except for certain Urban Aid Cities designated in the Technical Appendix to COAH's regulations. N.J.A.C. 5:92-5.4; 5:92  Appendix A at 92-43 to 44 and 92-56. A municipality's allocated fair share of the regional pool of such excess deficient low- and moderate-income housing units constitutes that municipality's reallocated present need. N.J.A.C. 5:92-5.4; 5:92  Appendix A at 92-43 to 44. We note that the term indigenous need, as calculated by COAH, is somewhat of a misnomer in that it includes only housing units that require upgrading but does not include households in the municipality that demonstrate a present need for affordable housing. Such households may reside in standard housing units, paying a disproportionate share of their income for housing, or because of poverty may be forced to share housing with their extended families. In AMG Realty Co., supra, Judge Serpentelli also excluded that category of financially-needy households from the calculation of Warren Township's present need, observing that inclusion of those households would increase dramatically the municipality's obligation to provide affordable housing sufficient to address its indigenous need, and noting the difficulty of calculating accurately the number of households that should be included in the category of financial need. 207 N.J. Super. at 388, 504 A. 2d 692. Notwithstanding the methodology adopted by the Law Division in AMG Realty Co., the Fair Housing Act vests in COAH the responsibility for determining whether identifiable financially-needy households are to be considered in the calculation of indigenous or regional need for affordable housing.