LEGISLATIVE FISCAL ESTIMATE

[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 4458

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

 

DATED: AUGUST 19, 2026

 

 

SUMMARY

 

Synopsis:

Requires establishment of Public Housing Hotline Pilot Program in Bureau of Housing Inspection to enable certain public housing occupants to lodge complaints concerning living conditions.

Type of Impact:

State expenditure increase for a period of up to four years.

Agencies Affected:

Department of Community Affairs.

 

 

Office of Legislative Services Estimate

Fiscal Impact

Duration of Pilot Program

 

State Expenditure Increase

Indeterminate

 

 

·       The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) concludes that the bill will result in an indeterminate increase in State expenditures to the Department of Community Affairs for a period of up to four years to establish and operate the Public Housing Hotline Pilot Program and associated database and to produce the required reports. 

·       The OLS notes that the pilot program is slated to last three years, but the department will incur implementation costs before the hotline becomes operational.

 

BILL DESCRIPTION

 

      The bill requires the Department of Community Affairs to establish the Public Housing Hotline Pilot Program in the Bureau of Housing Inspection to enable public housing occupants to lodge complaints concerning living conditions. The pilot program is to maintain a toll-free telephone hotline available 24 hours a day, seven days per week. The bill requires the department to select three housing authorities in the northern, central, and southern part of the State to participate in the pilot program.  The department is also to establish a centralized database for compiling the substantiated complaints lodged from the hotline and create a comparative living condition profile of the pilot housing facilities.

      The bill requires the pilot program to operate for three years following the establishment of the hotline. Within 90 days following the conclusion of each year of the pilot program, the department is to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the results of the pilot program. 

 

 

FISCAL ANALYSIS

 

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

 

      None received.

 

OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE SERVICES

 

      The OLS concludes that the bill will result in an indeterminate increase in State expenditures to the Department of Community Affairs for a period of up to four years to establish and operate the Public Housing Hotline Pilot Program and associated database and to produce the required reports. 

      The Public Housing Hotline may be similar to the Law Enforcement Officer Crisis Intervention Services telephone hotline, currently operated 24 hours a day, seven days per week and maintained by the Department of Human Services. The department has spent $400,000 annually over the last three fiscal years to operate the hotline. The OLS expects expenditures for the Public Housing Hotline to be less than $400,000 annually for a period of three years due to the scale of the pilot program.  

      The database compiling substantiated complaints lodged from the hotline and comparative living condition profile of the pilot public housing facilities are also to be developed and maintained by the bureau. For comparative purposes, the OLS found that the Louisiana Office of Technology Services spent about $700,000 to construct a comprehensive website that provides information to the public about state expenditures, contracts, incentive expenditures, revenues, and other financial matters.  The OLS assumes that the database contemplated in the bill would not need this level of functionality. Conversely, the Colorado Department of Personnel and Administration estimated, in a recent fiscal note, the initial costs to create a state grant database at $135,000. 

      The department would also experience an indeterminate amount of administrative costs associated with preparing an annual report regarding the results of the pilot program and adopting rules and regulations to implement the pilot program. 

 

 

Section:

Local Government

Analyst:

Abigail Stoyer

Senior Fiscal Analyst

Approved:

Thomas Koenig

Legislative Budget and Finance Officer

 

 

This legislative fiscal estimate has been produced by the Office of Legislative Services due to the failure of the Executive Branch to respond to our request for a fiscal note.

 

This fiscal estimate has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67 (C.52:13B-6 et seq.).