The Mount Laurel Doctrine has led to the development of over 40,000 affordable housing units outside New Jersey’s racially and economically-segregated urban centers.
Fair Share Housing Center fights to defend the rights of New Jersey’s poor by monitoring, enforcing and expanding the Mount Laurel Doctrine.
Ethel R. Lawrence Homes is the award-winning housing development in Mount Laurel, NJ that came out of the Mount Laurel lawsuit, following three decades of advocacy by Fair Share Housing Center. It was built by Fair Share Housing Development, our development associate. Learn more about Fair Share Development’s work on their website.
New Jersey has built more affordable housing per capita in high-opportunity communities near great schools and good jobs than any other state in the nation thanks in large part to the Mount Laurel Doctrine. This landmark case prohibits towns from discriminating against the poor through exclusionary zoning and requires all 566 municipalities to provide their fair share of the region’s need for affordable housing. Read more…
In March 2012, in a case brought by FSHC, a New Jersey appellate court invalidated Gov. Christie’s abolition of the Council on Affordable Housing, ruling that New Jersey’s State Constitution and statutes do not allow Gov. Christie to unilaterally abolish independent agencies. The court reversed a reorganization plan adopted by the Governor in 2011. Read more…
Locating affordable homes near public transportation can help cut costs for low-income workers, who spend more on transportation than any other need except housing. But that’s not the only benefit to building more affordable housing near transit in NJ, which boasts the most developed public transportation system in the nation. Read more…
FSHC pioneered the strongest requirements in the country for regional planning entities to include affordable housing in their planning. Our work to implement these victories will provide a national model on how to bring together competing interest and build consensus among state and local leaders on how to best protect the environment and meet the housing needs of the poor. Read more…
