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Final Bayonne Affordable Housing Midpoint Review

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ISSUED: 7/31/2021

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Executive Summary

This document presents the Third Round Midpoint Review for the City of Bayonne's affordable housing obligations, as required by the Fair Housing Act and a Judgment of Compliance and Repose (JOR) issued on September 22, 2016. The review assesses the city's progress in addressing its 646-unit present need, or rehabilitation share. The report details the city's efforts through various programs, including the Home Improvement Program, the Hudson County HOME Investment Partnership Program, and the Bayonne Housing Authority's renovation projects. Ultimately, the review concludes that Bayonne has exceeded its rehabilitation obligation with a total of 668 units rehabilitated as of June 2021.

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--- Document: Final Bayonne Affordable Housing Midpoint Review Document ---
 
AFFORDABLE HOUSING 
THIRD ROUND MIDPOINT REVIEW 
CITY OF BAYONNE, HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 
 
 
 
 
 
July 31, 2021  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Prepared by:  
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
Brian M. Slaugh, PP, AICP 
Elaine R. Clisham, MCP 
New Jersey Professional Planner License 3743 
AICP Candidate 
                     
 
 
 
 
 
  
Clarke Caton Hintz 
100 Barrack Street 
Trenton, New Jersey 08608 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
Table of Contents 
 
1. 
Purpose ................................................................................................................................. 1 
2. 
Background ........................................................................................................................... 1 
3. 
Rehabilitation Program Update ........................................................................................... 1 
City of Bayonne Home Improvement Program ................................................................ 2 
Hudson County HOME Investment Partnership Program .............................................. 2 
Bayonne Housing Authority ............................................................................................... 2 
New Construction – Existing ............................................................................................. 2 
Hudson Milestones ................................................................................................. 3 
Senior Horizons at Bayonne ................................................................................... 3 
Tagliareni Plaza ....................................................................................................... 3 
Hobart Avenue .................................................................................................................... 3 
4. 
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 4 
 
 
 


Affordable Housing Third Round Midpoint Review 
 
for the City of Bayonne, Hudson County                                             
July 31, 2021 
 
 
 
 
PAGE 1 
 
 
1. 
PURPOSE  
 
The City of Bayonne’s 2016 Third Round Final Judgment of Compliance and Repose (“JOR”) 
requires that the City comply with the statutory midpoint review requirements of the Fair 
Housing Act (“FHA”) and specifically N.J.S.A. 52:27D-313, which provides in relevant part: 
“[t]he Council shall establish procedures for a realistic opportunity review at the midpoint of 
the certification period and shall provide for notice to the public.” Pursuant to the JOR, that 
review requires the City to provide to the Court “proofs evidencing its progress in addressing 
its currently-unfulfilled 32-unit present need obligation.” The City must also provide notice of 
the midpoint review to the public. Accordingly, the City will post this report on its website. 
2. 
BACKGROUND  
 
The City of Bayonne is an Urban Aid municipality and has been eligible since the beginning 
of municipal obligations under the Fair Housing Act. Urban Aid-eligible municipalities that 
meet one of three criteria in the methodology of the Second Round do not have a Prior Round 
obligation. Consequently, Bayonne did not need to address a Prior Round new construction 
obligation. Since the City remains an Urban Aid-eligible municipality, it is also not required 
to address a new construction component. 
The City filed a Declaratory Judgment and Motion for Temporary Immunity in accordance 
with the Supreme Court’s directions on July 8, 2015. On August 4, 2015, Judge Mary K. 
Costello granted the motion for temporary immunity until December 15, 2015. On October 9, 
2015, the judge issued an order requiring the submittal by January 8, 2016 of a Housing 
Element and Fair Share Plan, and extended the City’s immunity until that time. The City 
adopted a Third Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan on December 15, 2015 and 
timely submitted it to the court, which found that it fully satisfied the City’s Third Round 
affordable housing obligations. A final JOR was issued on September 22, 2016. 
Pursuant to the JOR, Bayonne is required to address a present need, or rehabilitation share, 
of 646 units. 
3. 
REHABILITATION PROGRAM UPDATE 
 
At the time the City’s Third Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan was adopted in 
December 2015, it had rehabilitated 614 units, as follows: 


Affordable Housing Third Round Midpoint Review 
 
for the City of Bayonne, Hudson County                                             
July 31, 2021 
 
 
 
 
PAGE 2 
 
 
City of Bayonne Home Improvement Program 
Between April 1, 2010 and December 2015, the city had rehabilitated 24 units via its Home 
Improvement Program, which utilizes pass-through grant funding from the U.S. Department 
of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program. 
It expended a total of $462,190 on those units, for an average of $19,258 per unit, in excess of 
the minimum per-unit average requirement of $10,000. The program establishes a perpetual 
lien on the rehabilitated property that must be repaid when title is transferred.  Between 
December 2015 and June 2021, an additional 12 units have been rehabilitated via the program, 
at a per-unit average cost of $18,550, for a total expenditure of $204,050.  
Hudson County HOME Investment Partnership Program 
In May of 2011, rehabilitation was completed on eight units in a building at 582 Avenue C by 
a developer of affordable housing. The County expended more than $1 million on the eight 
units, for a per-unit average expenditure of more than $128,000.  Since that time, 39 
additional units in a building at 732 Avenue E have been rehabilitated via the program, at a 
per-unit average expenditure of $108,205, for a total expenditure of $4.22 million.  The County 
imposes a lien of up to 15 years on rehabilitated properties. 
Bayonne Housing Authority 
Between April 1, 2010 and December 2015, the Housing Authority renovated rental units in 
two of its properties: Kill Van Kull Gardens and Kill Van Kull Annex, a total of 201 units. 
Expenditures on this rehabilitation totaled just over $2 million, for an average per-unit 
expenditure of at least $10,000. Since December 2015, the Housing Authority has performed 
bathroom and plumbing rehabilitation work and replacement of windows and doors on 12 
additional units at the Pamrapo Annex, at a per-unit average expenditure of $17,557, for a total 
additional expenditure of $210,684, in addition to smaller rehabilitation expenditures on 
various other BHA units. Rehabilitation of Housing Authority units demonstrates the City’s 
compliance with the requirement that rental properties cannot be excluded from a 
municipality’s rehabilitation program. 
New Construction – Existing  
The City has also undertaken new construction of affordable units that are eligible for credit 
toward its rehabilitation program. In the December 2015 plan the City claimed 371 affordable 
units for which it was eligible to claim new construction credit toward its rehabilitation 
obligation. The proposed 10-unit Hobart Avenue project is now completed and occupied. 
However, subsequent documentation indicated that the unit count and/or breakdown at 
several compliance mechanisms, as detailed below, differs from what was included in the 
December 2015 plan. 


Affordable Housing Third Round Midpoint Review 
 
for the City of Bayonne, Hudson County                                             
July 31, 2021 
 
 
 
 
PAGE 3 
 
 
Hudson Milestones 
The City claimed 26 group home bedrooms in its December 2015 plan, but Hudson 
Milestones has confirmed that there are a total of 13, rather than 26, group home bedrooms 
across the three properties included in the plan. This reduces the number of existing new 
construction units creditable against the City’s rehabilitation obligation by 13. 
Senior Horizons at Bayonne 
The December 2015 plan indicated that Tagliareni Plaza, developed by Regan 
Development Corp., included 12 special-needs units (see below). Documentation shows 
there are 10 special-needs units included in the Senior Horizons at Bayonne development, 
also developed by Regan. The special-needs units are all one-bedroom units, nine of which 
are affordable to low-income residents. The remaining 49 age-restricted units in this 
project include 43 one-bedroom and six two-bedroom units. Of those 49 units, 31 units are 
affordable to low-income households and 18 are affordable to moderate-income 
households. This change in unit type does not affect the total unit count at this project. 
Tagliareni Plaza 
As noted above, the December 2015 plan indicated that there were 12 special-needs 
bedrooms in this project and 27 family affordable rentals. In fact, there are 43 affordable 
units at this project, all family affordable rentals. Nine of the units are one-bedroom low-
income units designated as veterans’ preference; four are one-bedroom accessible units; 
and two are two-bedroom accessible units. There are four more units at this project than 
were claimed in the December 2016 plan. 
Hobart Avenue 
Since plan adoption, the City has brought online 10 additional affordable units at a project on 
Hobart Avenue that was included in the December 2015 plan as a proposed development. A 
nonprofit joint venture between Windmill Alliance, Inc., and the Garden State Episcopal 
Community Development Corporation constructed the eight apartments at 180-186 Hobart 
Avenue (Block 322, consolidated lot 2.01). The building is owned by Windmill Alliance, and 
includes four special-needs bedrooms in two apartments and six affordable family rentals – 
two low-income two-bedroom apartments and two moderate-income two-bedroom 
apartments. Certificates of occupancy were issued in 2019, and Windmill Alliance, an 
experienced administrator of special-needs housing, administers the special-needs units. 
Community Grants, Planning and Housing, an experienced administrative agent for 
affordable units in New Jersey, administers the family rentals. 
With the additional rehabilitated units, the City has completely satisfied its outstanding 
rehabilitation obligation since December 2015, as documented in the summary table below: 


Affordable Housing Third Round Midpoint Review 
 
for the City of Bayonne, Hudson County                                             
July 31, 2021 
 
 
 
 
PAGE 4 
 
 
Table 1. Summary of Components of the City’s Rehabilitation Program 
City of Bayonne 646-Unit 
Rehabilitation Obligation 
As of 
December 
2015 
Between 
December 
2015 and 
June 2021 
Total 
Bayonne Home Improvement Program  
 
24 
 
12 
 
36 
Hudson County HOME Partnership Program  
 
8 
 
39 
 
47 
Bayonne Housing Authority 
 
201 
 
12 
 
213 
New Construction (less 13 units at Hudson 
Milestones, plus four units at Tagliareni Plaza) 
 
372 
 
 
 
372 
Total   
605 
 
63 
 668 
Excess Rehabilitated Units  
22 
 
 
4. 
CONCLUSION 
 
At the time of adoption of its Housing Element and Fair Share Plan in 2015, the City had 
claimed to have satisfied 614 of its 646-unit present need obligation. Subsequent 
documentation indicates that at the time of plan adoption the City had provided 605 units, 
including the 10 proposed units at the Hobart Avenue project. 
Since the City’s Housing Element and Fair Share Plan was adopted, the City rehabilitated 12 
additional units using CDBG funds; 39 additional units in the City have been rehabilitated via 
the Hudson County Home Improvement Program, using HOME funds; and the Bayonne 
Housing Authority has performed plumbing and window-door replacement work on 12 units 
at its Pamrapo Annex, as well as smaller rehabilitation work at various other of its properties. 
Combined, these 63 additional units bring the City’s total rehabilitated units to 668, thus fully 
satisfying its 646-unit obligation.