Two New Jersey Senators want to hold landlords accountable for dangerous, unsanitary conditions in subsidized rental housing.
Democrat Ron Rice says the bill he's sponsoring with Republican Jennifer Beck follows investigations about deplorable conditions at rental complexes in Newark and Asbury Park.
"We have some units where the landlords continue over the years to flip properties, don't maintain them. You have roaches and rats and all kinds of violations taking place in these buildings, the ceilings falling."
Rice says the government is still giving subsidies to some landlords even though they've failed to correct the violations.
"And so the bill is intended to bring some relief to the tenants by way of making sure that the entities that are providing the dollars find a way not to provide them until things are abated."
Rice says legislative hearings could determine how widespread those problems are in New Jersey.
Senator Jennifer Beck says the conditions some tenants are forced to live in are unconscionable and it's not acceptable to allow that to continue.