Budget taps housing trust funds

The state legislature will take $190 million from affordable housing
trust funds as it scrambles to plug a $2.6 billion budget deficit. The
William E. Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund, established by the legislature in 1992, is funded entirely by a portion of documentary
stamp taxes. The funds are used to build new single-family homes and
multi-family housing projects, and for financial assistance programs.
The 2008 legislature appropriated $303 million for the housing trust
fund for the current year. The House suggested using $284 million
of this. However, when state economists predicted that real estate
transactions would produce no more than $170 million for the housing
trust funds, lawmakers agreed on the lower $190 million figure. That
includes unspent, previously appropriated funds.