The Legislature hereby declares it to be the policy of the State to promote the health, safety, morals and welfare of the citizens thereof through the prevention and elimination of blighting influences and the restoration of neighborhoods threatened with or undergoing deterioration and decline. For this purpose, powers are granted by this act to the Department of Community Affairs to make grants to political subdivisions of the State so that they may undertake measures, including but not limited to housing rehabilitation, code enforcement, demolition, and the expansion and improvement of public services and public facilities, which will arrest the deterioration and preserve the threatened but still viable neighborhoods of the State. The enactment of the provisions hereinafter set forth is in the public interest and is hereby so declared to be such as a matter of express legislative determination.

L.1975, c. 248, s. 3, eff. Oct. 30, 1975.