November 1963: Report entitled “Toward More Effective Government, A Proposed Department of Community Affairs” is submitted to Governor Richard J. Hughes. In the report, it is proposed that a state agency be created to provide one central location to which municipal and county officials can go for assistance with their community development challenges. The state agency would also coordinate State functions in the areas of housing, local planning, urban renewal and community finance through which federal and state financial assistance is available.

January 11, 1966: Governor Hughes in his Annual Message to the Legislature champions the creation of a Department of Community Affairs, saying, “During the past few years, as the federal government has moved to create a Department of Housing and Urban Development, my conviction that such a department on the state level is absolutely essential in this day and age has been reinforced.  While some of our major cities are staffed in a manner which enables them to deal effectively with state and federal governments and to obtain the full benefit of the programs that are available, many of our smaller communities are losing assistance which could be theirs because they are not properly equipped. In large part, the new department would provide such municipalities with the assistance they require while providing the focal point for much of the activity concerning municipalities which is now dispersed among many other departments.”

May 1966: Legislation to create the Department of Community Affairs is introduced.

November 23, 1966: Governor Hughes signs the Department of Community Affairs Act establishing the Department of Community Affairs, P.L. 1966, c.293.

March 1, 1967: Department of Community Affairs Act takes effect. DCA brought together the following government functions:

  • Division of Local Government of the Department of the Treasury
  • Bureau of Tenement House Supervision of the State Police
  • Supervisor of Hotel Fire Safety of the Department of Law and Public Safety
  • Housing and urban renewal functions of the Division of Resource Development
  • Division of State and Regional Planning of the Department of Conservation and Economic Development
  • Division on Aging of the Department of State
  • Youth Division of the Department of State
  • Office of Economic Opportunity, which had been created by Executive Order in 1964
  • Office of Community Services

March 1967: Paul N. Ylvisaker appointed first commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs.

1967: Governor Hughes signs the Hotel and Multiple Dwelling Act into law. Under this law, the Department of Community Affairs, Division of Housing and Urban Renewal is responsible for registering and inspecting hotels, motels and apartment buildings.

1968: New Jersey Housing Finance Agency created and empowered to sell tax-exempt bonds for the purpose of financing construction loans for low- and moderate-income rental housing. Established in but not of the Department of Community Affairs.

1968: Department of Community Affairs helps draft the Hackensack Meadowlands Reclamation and Development Act. The act provides for the reclamation and redevelopment of approximately 18,000 acres of marshes spread across 14 communities in Hudson and Bergen counties.

January 1969: Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, a semi-autonomous sister agency of the Department of Community Affairs, is created. 

1969: New Jersey Commission on Open Space Policy is established to explore need for action to preservation open space for recreation, agriculture and conservation.

DCA 50th Anniversary