New Jersey Statutes Title 52. State Government, Departments and Officers 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.