NJ’s Affordable Housing Mandate Upheld: See Town-By-Town Obligations

NEW JERSEY — The state's new affordable housing law is still moving forward (for now), after a judge rejected a group of New Jersey towns' request to stop it from taking effect.

The Local Leaders for Responsible Planning, a coalition of 26 suburban communities led by Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali, argue that the state's requirement to provide a "fair share" of affordable housing will place an unfair burden on their towns. Their overall lawsuit is still proceeding through the courts, as well.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy denied the towns' request to suspend enforcement of the law, saying he found it "incongruous with all principles of equity to leave the state’s low- and moderate-income households in worse shape than before the Legislature’s comprehensive reshaping of the field."

The LLRP filed an appeal last week seeking an emergency review of their case while their overall lawsuit continues, as reported by Gothamist.

"Our Coalition remains steadfast in challenging a law that imposes unfair affordable housing obligations upon New Jersey’s suburban municipalities – while exempting the urban ones," Ghassali said in a statement.

The 26 towns involved in the lawsuit are Allendale, Cedar Grove, Closter, Denville, East Hanover, Florham Park, Franklin Lakes, Hanover, Hillsdale, Holmdel, Manningham, Mendham, Millburn, Montvale, Montville, Norwood, Old Tappan, Oradell, Parsippany-Troy Hills, Totowa, Wall, West Amwell, Westwood, Wharton, Wyckoff, and Washington Township.

The Fair Share Housing Center has called the legal effort to derail the new law a “smokescreen,” and said it will likely be thrown out of court.

“This lawsuit is nothing new — it’s supported by many of the same ultra-wealthy communities who have fought affordable housing for decades, every step of the way,” the nonprofit charged.

Meanwhile, state Attorney General Matt Platkin and the Fair Share Housing Center have filed a motion to dismiss the LLRP's lawsuit, as New Jersey Spotlight News reported. The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31.

Each town's 'fair share'

Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law last March that was meant to change the way the number of mandatory affordable units are decided for municipalities, under the state Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel doctrine and the New Jersey Fair Housing Act. The state Department of Community Affairs released its first set of affordable housing obligations in October, setting out how many low- or moderate-income units that represents each town's "fair share."

The state anticipates that more than 146,000 affordable housing units will need to be built or rehabilitated across New Jersey in the next 10 years to meet the needs of residents. That is an estimated 65,410 current residences that need to be rehabilitated (an average of 116 per town). The total for new units is set at 80,798, or about 143 per town, over the next decade.

All towns are constitutionally mandated to provide their "fair share" of affordable housing for the region, under the Mount Laurel Doctrine. These latest calculations are for the fourth round, which runs from 2025-2035.

Local governments have until Jan. 31 to either approve these numbers or provide their own calculations consistent with state law.

Towns and cities don’t have to create the housing themselves, but must ensure that the threshold is met, often by requiring affordable housing units as part of local real estate development projects.

The state's calculations include numbers for both "present need," which refers to existing housing units deemed substandard/deficient and in need of repair; and "prospective need," which estimates the number of new units that will be needed based on population trends.

Below is a table showing the Department of Community Affairs' calculated obligations for each municipality's present and prospective need. The table is searchable, and it is sorted alphabetically by town name:

Patch's Eric Kiefer contributed to this article.