Daniel J. Munoz reports for NJBIZ
Gov. Phil Murphy signed a package of bills he and proponents said would alleviate the effects of foreclosures on homeowners facing the potentially daunting legal proceedings, and help the economic revitalization of towns with high foreclosure rates, or “blight.”
However, the governor held off on signing two additional foreclosure bills, saying the measures were being “worked through.”
One bill that Murphy did not sign was Assembly Bill 5000, which would have required the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs to create an online and publicly accessible database, and accompanying map of foreclosed properties across the state.
“We made a decision that the nine that were ready to go on the runway, we didn’t want to let any more time pass, so we’re signing these nine today,” Murphy told reporters following the bill-signing ceremony Monday afternoon in Atlantic City.
Proponents of the measures signed Monday said the package will help reverse the trend of the exasperated foreclosure rate which came at the heels of the financial crisis and ensuing housing market crash a decade ago.
“Ten years after the housing crash decimated the dreams of thousands of families, and even as we keep working to restore our economy to pre-Recession levels of growth and incomes, New Jersey still bears a steady burden that is on the legacies of the Great Recession: our foreclosure crisis,” Murphy said.
