These NJ Towns Could Lose Affordable Housing Immunity: See Where

An affordable housing advocacy organization has filed challenges to the affordable housing plans of 16 New Jersey towns, saying the plans do not comply with the state's affordable housing law and seeks to have their immunity to builder remedy lawsuits revoked.

The Fair Share Housing Center, which has been advocating for affordable housing since 1975, said it filed the challenges to the plans of the towns ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline and notified those towns of the challenges.

Under the New Jersey constitution, towns are required to provide a certain percentage of affordable housing based on the town's population and region's growth.

The fourth round of obligations were issued in October 2024, and towns had until June 30 to file their plans to meet the anticipated affordable housing needs through 2035.

Of more than 500 towns, 423 towns adopted and filed Housing Element and Fair Share Plans earlier this summer, Fair Share Housing Center officials said. For many, the plans are anticipated to receive final approval soon, the center said.

"Unfortunately, however, a smaller group of municipalities continue to attempt to flout the law," the center said in announcing the challenges. The center wants the towns' immunity from builders' remedy lawsuits removed — which could put the towns at risk of losing control over how and where affordable housing is built in their towns.

The 16 towns are: Belmar, East Greenwich Township, Florham Park, Franklin Lakes, Hanover Township, Lyndhurst, Madison, Montvale, North Arlington, Park Ridge, Rockaway, Roxbury, Saddle River, Summit City, Toms River, and West Windsor.

Six of the towns are in Bergen County — Franklin Lakes, Lyndhurst, Montvale, North Arlington, Park Ridge, and Saddle River — and five are in Morris County — Florham Park, Hanover, Madison, Rockaway, and Roxbury.

The largest town on the list is Toms River, with a population of more than 95,000 residents as of 2024. For the fourth round, the town's prospective need — the number of affordable housing units it would need in the coming years — was set at 670, according to the Department of Community Affairs.

Toms River's plan to meet those needs includes extending deed restrictions on 470 units that will keep them as affordable housing for 20 more years, paid for through money in the township's affordable housing trust fund. Toms River has about $9 million in its fund, from fees paid by developers.

Township officials also say the town is entitled to a 275-unit credit from its third-round obligations, based on what it says is a court ruling that caps Toms River's third-round number at 1,000, while the town provided 1,275 units, according to the plan Toms River filed with the state in June.

On Sept. 2, the Fair Share Housing Center challenged those plans in court, calling them "outrageous":

"The Township has unilaterally and without leave of court or any other authority, simply reduced its Third Round obligations in the new fair share plan," the challenge says. "It has done so, not because there is legal authority to justify this action, but to achieve Toms Rivers’s singular goal in this process – to construct zero new affordable homes in the Fourth Round in a municipality of nearly 100,000 people that is the government and health care center of Ocean County. Toms River’s actions in this regard are outrageous and should be treated as such by the Program and the court."

Mayor Daniel Rodrick said by phone on Wednesday that the township has been talking with Fair Share Housing Center officials to come to a resolution on its plan, and said there had been mediation discussions as recently as three weeks ago and that he anticipates the issue will be resolved soon.

Toms River wasn't the only town harshly criticized by the center.

Montvale in Bergen County, which the center said led a series of failed lawsuits to challenge the new law as onerous, "now takes the position that the new law only requires them to build four new affordable homes over the next decade," the center said in its news release announcing the challenges. "Franklin Lakes Borough, another plaintiff in the series of lawsuits, takes the position that the new law does not require them to create any new affordable homes at all."

Montvale's prospective need was more than 300 units, according to DCA calculations. Mayor Mike Ghassali told Gothamist the town will fight the Fair Share Housing Center challenge.

“My residents want us to fight this. We're fighting it. We are being more than fair,” Ghassali said.

"These towns cannot have it both ways — telling courts that this new law requires them to do too much, and then when it comes time to implement their plans, pretending that the law requires them to do nothing," said Adam Gordon, executive director of the Fair Share Housing Center. "We plan to hold them accountable and ensure we create the affordable homes New Jersey desperately needs."