Resident Implores Township for Disabled Housing

With a new program created by the state to assist those with special needs, resident Regina Tegeler is imploring the township to consider putting money aside for special needs housing.

Tegeler spoke before the council Monday, asking for funds to be used for developing housing for people in the township with developmental disabilities.

“I am an advocate for people with developmental disabilities,” she said, adding that her 30-year-old son, Matthew, has several disabling disabilities. “On behalf of the community of people in Bridgewater and the surrounding towns, I wanted to talk about the Special Needs Housing Partnership Fund.”

The fund, created through the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and the Mortgage Finance Agency, is aimed at creating affordable housing for about 600 people in the state with developmental disabilities by June 2013.

The housing, according to the state’s website, would be three- or four-bedroom ranch homes and other first-story residences that could be adapted to create these living arrangements.

The money to pay for these arrangements, the website said, should come from municipalities’ affordable housing trust fund accounts, and the partnership will assist in making this happen.

“I am asking the township to encumber funds from Bridgewater to develop housing for people with developmental disabilities,” Tegeler said. “There is a critical need for this type of housing, and there is a long waiting list for people looking to access homes outside of their family homes."

As of December, Tegeler, about 12 municipalities in the state have committed to working with the partnership on this project.

“I have heard that the township can identify people in the community who are in need,” she said, adding that the Midland School, in North Branch, has expressed interest in working with the township on this. “But funds must be encumbered before July 1.”

“I hope the township will take my recommendation and move forward on this,” she added.

Township administrator James Naples said the township is in the process of developing its COAH spending plan, which is handled through the affordable housing trust, but it is currently in flux because the new rules of COAH have not been communicated.

“We don’t know the parameters from COAH at this point, or what it will constitute,” he said.

The township did agree to commit $250,000, and that is matched by the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, Naples said.

“We are trying to identify other areas where we can expend funds to help developmentally disabled people in Bridgewater,” he said. “But this is still in flux because we have no feedback or approval from COAH.”

Township attorney William Savo said the township has submitted an outline of a spending plan to the state so far, but it does not know what the next steps will be.

“It would include developmentally disabled housing,” he said. “But we are asking for guidance from the DCA and waiting to hear back.”

What do you think? Should the township move forward with creating specific housing for developmentally disabled residents in Bridgewater?