TOMS RIVER – Ocean County’s senior communities are facing a financial storm that one local advocate says could force retirees from their homes. At a recent Ocean County Commissioners meeting, Judy Noonan, a senior representative, who also works for the Manchester mayor, delivered an emotional plea on behalf of residents. She said many have been blindsided by surging maintenance fees coinciding with New Jersey’s new Structural Integrity and Reserve Funding Law, also known as Senate Bill 3992.
“I have people crying to me at my back door,” Noonan said. “They’re asking how they’re going to pay these fees and where they’re supposed to go. These are people who worked their whole lives, paid their taxes, and now they’re being pushed out.”
Governor Phil Murphy signed Senate Bill 3992 into law on August 21, 2025, after months of negotiation and lobbying. The measure was sponsored by Senator Troy Singleton, Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez, Assemblyman Sterley Stanley, and Assemblywoman Tennille McCoy.
The New Jersey Chapter of the Community Associations Institute (CAI-NJ), a national trade organization representing property managers, association attorneys, and engineering firms, played a major role in advancing the legislation. Through its Legislative Action Committee (NJ-LAC), CAI-NJ drafted technical language, hosted webinars, and worked directly with lawmakers to refine and promote the bill.
During a recent NJ-LAC presentation, committee members described the law as “compromise legislation” designed to address concerns about the prior version, known as S2760, passed in 2024. That earlier bill drew backlash from homeowners’ associations struggling to meet their aggressive financial standards.
“There was some pushback that our legislators got,” said CAI Legislative Action Chair Matt Earle. “Working with them, we were asked to find a way to potentially reduce the short-term burden on people.”
For CAI-NJ, the law represents progress toward ensuring communities don’t defer maintenance until it becomes dangerous. But for retirees living on fixed incomes, Noonan said, it feels like overreach.
“It’s the fox watching the hen house,” she said pointedly. “These management companies and their associations are the ones who pushed this bill. Now they’re profiting from it, and the seniors are the ones paying the price.”
What The Law Requires
Under the Structural Integrity and Reserve Funding Law, all condominium, cooperative, and planned real estate developments in New Jersey must now conduct 30-year capital reserve studies every five years. The studies must determine how much money an association is required to set aside to cover future replacements and repairs for things like roofs, roads, foundations, siding, and more. The goal is to ensure reserve balances never fall below zero and avoid exorbitant assessments.
The law establishes two key options for compliance. They include a 30-year funding schedule, as well as an 85 percent funding option. The latter is considered a temporary allowance enabling associations to contribute 85 percent of their required reserve amounts with special disclosures presented to homeowners. Associations that select the 85 percent alternative are essentially pushing higher costs down the road.
Lawmakers crafted the legislation after the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse in Florida, which killed 98 people when a building with long-deferred repairs crumbled overnight. New Jersey’s law aims to prevent such tragedies by mandating proactive financial planning for structural upkeep.
However, the sweeping scope of S3992 means it applies not just to large high-rises, but also to low-rise and garden-style developments, which dominate Ocean County’s senior landscape.
“This doesn’t appeal to Ocean County,” Noonan told the commissioners. “They based this on Florida’s high-rises, but we don’t have that here. What we have are seniors living on fixed incomes who now can’t pay their maintenance fees.”
Noonan said that in some communities, monthly maintenance costs have climbed $300 to $400, a heavy burden for residents living on Social Security. “That’s on top of electric, food, and taxes,” she said. “They’re not looking for a handout. They just want a hand up, and to stay in their homes.”
She added that many seniors don’t fully understand the complex formulas that go into reserve funding.
“They just know the bills keep going up, and nobody seems to be looking out for them,” Noonan said.
Frustration Over Radburn Act
Noonan’s frustration with state housing laws extends beyond the new Reserve Act. She also expressed anger over the Radburn Act and related regulations that dictate how homeowner and condominium association boards are elected and managed.
Originally designed to make association elections more democratic, the Radburn Regulations were adopted by the Department of Community Affairs in 2020 to ensure fair representation and transparency in community governance. But many associations, particularly those with senior residents, have said the rules only made operations more complicated and costly.
Earlier this year, the New Jersey Appellate Division struck down portions of the Radburn Regulations, finding that several provisions conflicted with state statutes.
Noonan said that even with those reversals, seniors still feel disenfranchised. “The Radburn law lets people buy into a senior community even if they’re not seniors, but then they can’t live there,” she said. “What happens next? They rent the units out. The rents go up, and our seniors get squeezed. It’s like one bad law piles on top of another.”
She also argued that some provisions have made it harder for long-time residents to have a say in how their communities are run. “Trenton keeps giving us rules that don’t fit the people they affect,” she said. “It’s the same people pushing the same agenda, and it’s always the seniors who get hurt.”
Seniors Hit Hard
Ocean County officials say they share concerns about rising costs but have no authority to intervene in a state mandate. Maria LaFace, Director of Ocean County Senior Services, said her department understands how the law is affecting older residents.
“We have no control over the new state law,” LaFace said, “But we know that keeping seniors in their homes is important, and so is addressing food insecurity, utility costs, and transportation. We’re doing our best to provide services that can help them through these challenges.”
LaFace said her department is seeing more calls from seniors struggling to balance everyday needs.
“They’re being hit from all directions,” she said. “We’re doing everything we can to stretch resources, but the pressure is real.”
Ocean County, home to one of the nation’s largest concentrations of retirees, already allocates significant funding toward senior nutrition, wellness checks, and transportation programs. Still, LaFace said, “When housing costs jump this dramatically, there’s only so much we can do on the county level.”
