SENATE COMMUNITY AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 2606
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: DECEMBER 1, 2022
The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee reports
favorably Senate Bill No. 2606.
This bill creates the "Sustainable Tiny Home Pilot Program" (pilot
program) as a three-year pilot program to combat climate change and
reduce the State's carbon footprint through the construction of small
environmentally friendly homes.
This bill requires the Executive Director of the New Jersey
Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (executive director) in the
Department of Community Affairs to select municipalities in three
regions of the State to participate in the pilot program. The executive
director also is to manage the pilot program to award grants to builders
for the construction of housing developments consisting of homes
having no greater than 300 square feet of interior floor space. The
executive director, in consultation with the Commissioner of
Community Affairs and the Commissioner of Environmental
Protection, is to be required to adopt green building standards for tiny
home dwelling units for the purposes of determining eligibility for a
grant under the pilot program. Under the bill, any tiny home dwelling
unit constructed in accordance with this pilot program is to be
considered a permitted use in all residential districts of a pilot
municipality.
This bill appropriates $5 million from the general fund, of which
the executive director would distribute $1.65 million during each of
the three years the pilot program is in operation to qualified builders
for the construction of housing developments consisting of tiny homes.
The executive director is to be required to submit an annual report to
the Governor and Legislature detailing the pilot program's progress in
decreasing the State's carbon footprint and combating global warming.