Livingston Defends Affordable Housing Plan After Challenge From Developers

LIVINGSTON, NJ — Livingston has successfully defended its affordable housing plan from developers who were trying to add more multi-family units in town, officials say.

In October 2024, state officials released the affordable housing numbers that New Jersey towns and cities will have to meet over the next 10 years, including Livingston. 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 calculations included 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).

Livingston’s prospective need was listed at 461 units, and the present need was set at zero.

The Livingston Township Council endorsed the town’s Fourth Round Housing Element and Fair Share Plan last July. The plan leans heavily on real estate projects that have already been approved and the use of bonus credits.

• READ MORE: No More Affordable Housing Required In Livingston Until 2035, Officials Say

Developers ended up filing a formal challenge to Livingston’s plan, proposing a total of 681 additional multi-family units across four separate sites.

In response, the township successfully demonstrated that there was a lack of available and developable land within the municipality, officials said.

According to a statement from the township:

“Specifically, the court agreed that two of the proposed sites were unlikely to redevelop and therefore unsuitable for affordable housing. A third objection, proposing 35 multi-family units, was resolved through a settlement that preserved the property’s existing single-family residential use. The final objection was withdrawn by the developer after it became clear that any potential need could be satisfied through the township’s surplus credits and that no additional housing would be awarded by the program in any event.”

Livingston also has a head start on the state’s next round of affordable housing requirements, officials said.

“Importantly, even after fully satisfying its Fourth-Round obligation, the township retains a significant number of surplus credits that may be applied toward all or part of any Fifth-Round obligation that may be determined to exist in 2035,” officials said.

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