Lawrence Gets Affordable Housing Quota From State. What To Expect

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ —New Jersey recently released the affordable housing quotas for towns and cities, including Lawrence Township. And they have the next 10 years to meet the needs of residents.

Last week, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs released its highly anticipated list for 2025-2035.

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).

A law passed last year gave DCA the authority to determine how many affordable housing units municipalities must create and maintain.

Here are Lawrence Township's numbers:

• Present Need: 68
• Prospective Need: 320

Municipalities have to come up with a plan to meet their quotas and get it approved by state officials by next summer – unless they plan to challenge the numbers.

So what does that mean for Lawrence Township? Municipal Manager Kevin Nerwinski told Patch that the Township is "well situated to meet this current need number."

"As a community, we have been a leader in the State on meeting Affordable Housing obligations. There are certainly a small percentage of residents that always come out to oppose new housing developments of any kind and, at times and unfortunately, affordable housing developments," Nerwinski said.

"However, I view this obligation for our community as more of a responsibility. We will continue to do our best to provide housing to those who qualify for affordable housing."

Local governments have until Jan. 31, 2025, to either approve the numbers or provide their own calculations consistent with state law, the New Jersey League of Municipalities noted.

Then, officials have until June 30, 2025, to adopt specific plans for how they will meet that need.

So how does Lawrence Township achieve the goal over 10 years?

"Our community is essentially built out. As a result, we are looking to redevelopment opportunities to preserve and positively re-imagine the character of our community, and to preserve and expand our open space whenever possible," Nerwinski explained.

Last year, the Council approved an ordinance adopting the Princeton Pike Redevelopment plan. The plan aims to revitalize the aging office development at 3131 Princeton Pike with new uses and development options that better respond to market conditions appropriate for the site.

The site was declared a non-condemnation area in need of redevelopment. The developer will demolish three existing office buildings and replace it with mixed-use development which will include a combination of residential and retail use.

The redevelopment of this site will create diverse housing options for a range of incomes and household sizes. Around 205 rental apartments will be built, 15 percent of them will be set aside for very low, low and moderate-income households

"Redevelopment opportunities like the 3131 Princeton Pike project are ideal because we worked for years with this developer to come up with a plan that is in the best interests of the community, provides alternative housing to young professionals and seniors looking to sell their long-time primary residents but also stay in the Lawrence community by downsizing to an apartment, and work to meet our affordable housing needs," Nerwinski explained.

Meanwhile, New Jersey's new affordable housing law has caused some bad blood between the state and some municipalities. Leaders in more than 20 municipalities have joined a lawsuit seeking to overturn the new affordable housing law, as they say it will place unnecessary strain on their towns.

Assemblywoman Victoria Flynn (NJ-13) said the current method of calculating affordable housing quotas is a "logistical nightmare."

"There isn’t enough land in New Jersey to meet these development goals," the state lawmaker argued. "The state's electrical and water infrastructure cannot afford to absorb additional development. Our roads and bridges are in constant disrepair, and public transportation is insufficient or nearly non-existent in most of the state. The high-density development proposed will cause irreparable and irreversible harm to the environment."

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

Princeton Council President Mia Sacks' outlook on the matter is based on Mercer County's previous lawsuit on the fair share methodology.

"Mercer County was involved in an extended legal challenge to the Fair Share methodology in Round 3. This led to the Jacobson Methodology that was incorporated into the new legislation governing Round 4," Sacks said.

"I anticipate that towns in Mercer County will now find it most productive to focus their time, effort, and financial resources, on good planning to meet their obligation in a way that makes sense for their communities."

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN NEW JERSEY

When Gov. Phil Murphy signed the new law last year, he gave some background about what led to its creation. He wrote:

“Affordable housing has been a central public policy challenge in New Jersey for nearly half a century. Forty-nine years ago, in a case brought by two local branches of the NAACP, the New Jersey Supreme Court held in a landmark ruling that every municipality must ‘make realistically possible an appropriate variety and choice of housing.’ The court went on to say that towns cannot stand in the way of opportunities for low- and moderate-income housing. This principle became known as the Mount Laurel doctrine. To this day, it is studied by law students and lawyers all across the nation.”

There have also been negative impacts from the Mount Laurel doctrine. Community activists have complained that real estate developers have been able to use the doctrine to file "Builders Remedy" lawsuits in order to build large, multi-family developments that may be in conflict with municipalities' master plans – setting up conflicts between local leaders and angry residents.

The New Jersey Legislature later adopted the Fair Housing Act in 1984 and created the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) — a bipartisan agency of members representing different interest groups — in order to prevent courts from becoming the forum for resolving these land use issues.

“For decades, all three branches of government have wrestled with how to apply the principles of Mount Laurel in practice,” Murphy wrote last year.

“At times, our state Legislature has tried to address this issue. At other times, the process for determining affordable housing obligations was left to an executive branch agency. But more recently, over the last 10 years, this process has mainly played out in the courts, through litigation.”

The time for that is over, Murphy said.

With the signing of last year’s bill, the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs is now running the numbers. Towns will have the freedom to come up with plans to meet those quotas. Municipalities can earn bonus credits for constructing affordable housing where it is needed most, such as transit hubs, or for providing housing for vulnerable populations like senior citizens.

The new process replaces the role previously played by the COAH, which has been “defunct” for over a decade and was formally abolished under the bill, the governor’s office said.

The law also bans regional contribution agreements — in which towns pay neighboring municipalities to bolster their affordable housing stock instead.

DCA Commissioner Jacquelyn Suárez said the new law gives New Jersey a unique opportunity to develop “missing middle” housing: options like townhouses, duplexes and other types of multi-family units.

These types of housing can “bridge the gap” between single-family homes and large apartment complexes, offering the diverse housing choices that New Jersey families need, Suárez said.

(With reporting from Eric Kiefer, Patch Staff)

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