Belleville Says ‘OK’ To Latest NJ Affordable Housing Quota

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The Township of Belleville has accepted the state’s latest round of affordable housing requirements.

During their Jan. 28 meeting, the Belleville Town Council voted to approve a resolution involving affordable housing quotas as part of the consent agenda. Belleville will now be responsible for adding or rehabbing 324 units of local affordable housing between 2025 and 2035.

In October, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) released its “Round Four” obligations for all towns and cities in the state. The calculations include numbers for “present need” (existing housing units deemed substandard/deficient and in need of repair), and “prospective need” (the number of new units that will be needed based on population trends).

Belleville’s totals included:

• Present Need – 324
• Prospective Need – zero

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.

This has caused some bad blood between the state and some municipalities, including Millburn and Cedar Grove, which joined a lawsuit with several other New Jersey towns seeking to overturn the law. The suit has since faced multiple defeats in court.

Advocates have pointed out that there are other ways to meet the threshold without allowing huge apartment buildings to spring up around town. Some acceptable ways include rehabbing old housing, creating “100 percent affordable” projects, or allowing property owners to create “accessory dwelling units.”

Municipalities were required to come up with a plan to meet their quotas and get it approved by state officials by February – unless they planned to challenge the numbers. Read More: Nutley, Belleville Get New Affordable Housing Quotas From State

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