Assembly Committee to Vote on
'the People's Bill'
View Live TODAY at 1pm
After all your hard work and feedback, we finally have a bill in the Assembly Housing Committee that reflects the principles you advocated for inclusion in a strong tenant and homeowner protection bill. This bill, A4226, is dubbed the "People's Bill" because advocates from the housing and community development field were directly involved in the bill's creation.
We need you to tune in to today's hearing. You can view the hearing by doing the following:
- Go to www.njleg.state.nj.us at 1 p.m. and click on the red box that says "Live Proceedings."
- You will see "Assembly Housing" as one of the meetings;
- Click on "View" to the right of the meeting listing. If it says "pending" then it means the meeting has yet to start and you can refresh your page until it says "View";
- The sound will be muted when it takes you to the Zoom page (you are only viewing the meeting, so they can't see or hear you). Just click where it says to enable audio.
You can still be on the record in support of the bill and/or submit written testimony by writing directly to [email protected]g. In your email, make sure you indicate that you support A4226 and its principles, including:
- Fair repayment schedules;
- Mandatory and universal forbearance;
- Consumer protection, meaning, no fees or negative credit hits for residents who participate in rent relief/forbearance programs.
Take Action:
After the hearing, let Gov. Murphy know where you stand! Call 609-292-6000 and press "8." Tell him you support the People's Bill, A4226!
And here's what we're asking you to say when you call, email, and/or contact on social media:
Hello my name is ________. My friends, family, and myself have been undergoing extremely stressful times (talk about how COVID has impacted you or people you know). I live in (town) and the people in my neighborhood are faced with many difficulties due to COVID-19 (talk about how COVID has impacted your community/neighborhood.).
A4226 was recently introduced in the Assembly and it best encapsulates our principles for housing relief. We urge you to sign this bill when it passes the Senate and Assembly before July rent is due.
We Need This Because:
Support Renters' Right to a Home: Many New Jerseyans will need repayment plans if they cannot afford to pay rent because of the pandemic. We need a fair and equitable repayment plan and that looks like:
- A fair amount of time to repay. People can't afford to repay all back rent the minute the emergency ends or face eviction - we need to be able to repay in small increments over the next few years, and there needs to be a cap for each month based on how much we can afford.
- A fair process. If there's a dispute with landlords about how much is owed, there should be mediation before eviction.
- Applies to everyone. This should cover all renters in the state. No exceptions.
Make Mortgage Forbearance Mandatory and Universal: Because every mortgage holder is different, and treats their customers differently, we have to legislate a standard that will help all New Jerseyans and not depend on the bank to do the right thing.
- Homeowners must be able to enter into a forbearance agreement with their lenders, with payments missed during the forbearance period added to the back end of the mortgage term;
- We need up to a year of mortgage forbearance - that's what the federal government standard is and we should use it too.
- Applies to everyone. This should cover all homeowners in the state. No exceptions.
Protect Consumers: There should be no negative credit reporting for having missed rent or mortgage payments during the crisis.
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