New Jersey § 52:27d-143

§ 52:27d-143.

The Legislature hereby finds and declares that there are neighborhoods in this State

which are beginning to decline but which can be rehabilitated and restored; that

a large proportion of the State's housing stock is situated in these neighborhoods

and is in danger of succumbing to dilapidation, deterioration or obsolescence; that

blighting conditions have substantially reduced incentive for private reinvestment

in these neighborhoods; that these neighborhoods will continue to decline unless

the State provides financial and other assistance; that the restoration of these

neighborhoods is vital to reinvigorating the declining social, economic and physical

environments of communities and to the health, safety, morals and general welfare

of the citizens of those neighborhoods and communities and of the State. The Legislature further finds and declares that rehabilitation and preservation of

threatened but still viable neighborhoods to the maximum extent possible is best accomplished

by the reconstruction, remodeling, improvement, restoration, or repair of residential

housing to sound condition in conjunction with provision of expanded and improved

community services and public improvements. Conservation of the State's housing stock in order to provide a decent home is a

worthy goal, but unless the services and facilities which are necessary to a complete

and continuing satisfactory living environment are also provided, slums, blight and

deterioration will not be arrested and neighborhoods will continue to decline. Restoration and maintenance of viable neighborhoods will be attained only if the

housing resources and community services and public improvements, principally those

for persons and families of low and moderate income, are attended to and simultaneously

provided.