Turner Legislation to Ensure Fair Considerations for Affordable Housing Programs Advances

Trenton– The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee advanced legislation sponsored by Senator Shirley Turner that would establish guidelines for determining creditworthiness of affordable housing applicants.

“Oftentimes, while low-income families wait years for an affordable housing unit, they are forced to pay market-rate rent in our high cost state, in many cases paying well over 50 percent of their income on housing and utility costs every month,” said Senator Turner (D-Mercer/Hunterdon). “This unfortunate reality can lead cost-burdened renters to stack up credit card debt and make other financial decisions just to survive. In the end, when they finally make it to the top of a waitlist for affordable housing, they are denied due to a low credit score.”

The bill, S.2516, would supplement the “Law Against Discrimination” to establish guidelines for determining the creditworthiness of applicants seeking to rent affordable housing units. Under the bill, a landlord would be required to consider criterion such as a tenant’s rental and utility payment history as well as their employment and wage history when assessing their creditworthiness.

“Everyone should have the opportunity for decent, affordable housing,” Senator Turner continued. “However, condemning people to a lifetime of housing and financial insecurity because they are low-income earners with no choice but to pay unaffordable, high rent, or because they have faced crushing debt due to job loss, illness, or other reasons beyond their control, is unnecessarily harsh. These are people who could be good money managers if given the chance to pay affordable rent.”

This bill would establish fair standards and guidelines for credit evaluation and the use of credit scores and reports in relation to housing subsidies and affordable housing programs.

“Coming out of this pandemic, we are likely to see even more people with poor credit because they relied heavily on credit cards while going months waiting for their unemployment benefits to kick in,” said Senator Turner. “People with poor credit pay higher costs and fees for everything, but the use of credit scores as part of our affordable housing selection process is downright cruel and, in fact, counterproductive to the goal of affordable housing, which is to improve the well-being of families.”

This bill was released from committee by a vote of 3-2.