Far More Municipalities Participating in Affordable Housing Process Than Any Time in 50-Year History of Mount Laurel Doctrine
Of the 440 towns that have opted to participate in the state’s “Fourth Round” affordable housing planning process, Fair Share Housing Center’s analysis shows that 372 towns’ affordable housing calculations — 85% of the towns participating — are reasonable and have decided not to challenge them.
In 2015, at the start of the Third Round, it was a very different story — towns claimed that 253 municipalities had zero affordable housing obligations for the next decade, leading to scores of lawsuits.
Ahead of the January 31 deadline for participating in the new process established by landmark legislation last year, 440 towns adopted resolutions to participate in the state’s affordable housing planning process — representing approximately a 25% increase in municipalities participating in the process compared to the Third Round in 2015.
Interested parties have until today, February 28, to file challenges to municipal calculations. Any challenges filed will then be referred to mediation. Any cases not resolved by mediation will be decided by the new Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program by March 31, at which point towns will know the final number of affordable homes they need to plan for over the next decade. Municipal Housing Elements and Fair Share Plans, including proposed drafts of zoning and other ordinances and resolutions, are required to be adopted by participating municipalities by June 30.
“We’re pleasantly surprised that many more municipalities are participating in the process than at any time in the 50-year history of the Mount Laurel Doctrine,” said Adam Gordon, Executive Director at Fair Share Housing Center. “This process validates the intent of New Jersey’s new affordable housing law — making the process more transparent, reducing litigation costs, and ultimately encouraging more municipalities to participate.”
Fair Share Housing Center reviewed all 440 municipal resolutions. Of those, 282 accepted the calculations of obligations provided by the NJ Dept. of Community Affairs (DCA) in October on the number of affordable homes each municipality is required to allow over the next decade. Fair Share Housing Center found that DCA correctly implemented the law and is not challenging any municipal calculation that followed the DCA calculation. 158 municipalities provided their own calculation of affordable housing need, based on local data. Of those, Fair Share Housing Center challenged 68 municipalities’ calculations, and did not challenge 90 municipalities’ calculations.
“This is a testament to the success of the new legislation — historically, disputes over fair share obligations have taken years of litigation. We’re glad to see money being spent on building affordable homes instead of going to court,” said Josh Bauers, Director of Exclusionary Zoning Litigation at Fair Share Housing Center. “We are not challenging many of New Jersey’s largest suburbs’ calculation of their obligations, including Bridgewater, Cherry Hill, East Brunswick, Franklin Township, Hamilton, Livingston, Paramus and Princeton, to name a few. We’re grateful to Governor Murphy and the legislation’s sponsors — Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, State Senator Troy Singleton, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, and State Assemblymembers Yvonne Lopez, Benjie Wimberly, and Verlina Reynolds-Jackson — for their leadership.”
Of the challenges filed today, many are due to incorrect interpretations of the statute or data issues that Fair Share Housing Center hopes will be resolved quickly through the mediation process provided by the new law. Unfortunately, a small group of municipalities have persisted in asserting unreasonable obligations — and the challenges filed today will hold them accountable.
For example, Denville Township, one of the plaintiffs in an unsuccessful lawsuit challenging the new law, sought to cut its obligation by over 250 homes from what DCA calculated, by asking for its obligation to be calculated differently from everyone else’s. And Toms River Township, the state’s eighth-largest municipality with a population of over 95,000 people, asserted it should only have to allow 114 affordable homes over the next decade — over 500 fewer than DCA calculated.
But these kinds of egregious violations are the exception and not the norm — reflecting the unprecedented success of the new law.
In New Jersey, the constitutional obligation for each municipality to allow its fair share of affordable homes, known as the Mount Laurel Doctrine, is recalculated every 10 years in cycles known as Rounds. Each municipality’s obligations are calculated by looking at factors in various regions of the state — such as job growth, existing affordability, and the growth of low- and moderate-income households — which determines an individualized requirement for affordable housing.
Ahead of the Fourth Round starting this year, landmark legislation (A4/S50) streamlined the affordable housing development process and codified the methodology used to determine each municipality’s obligations over the next decade. The updated framework safeguards towns’ discretion in deciding how they want to fulfill their fair share obligation. For towns who cooperate with the process, the new law is expected to reduce municipal costs.
New Jersey’s law gives towns a wide variety of tools to create affordable housing in the way they prefer. Municipalities can choose from a range of options — such as 100% affordable housing, mixed income housing, supportive housing for seniors or people with disabilities, or repurposing abandoned malls or offices. The recently-enacted law and associated bills give towns additional tools like new bonuses, financing options, and credits to meet their affordable housing responsibilities.
The new law also requires more transparent information to be shared with the public at each stage of the process, from adoption of initial plans to what is built and what trust funds are available to non-profit developers to create and rehabilitate affordable housing.
Municipalities in New Jersey are not required to directly fund affordable housing projects through local taxpayer dollars. Instead, these developments are often supported through a combination of state programs, subsidies, and developer contributions. Mixed-income developments, which are a common approach, leverage private investment to meet affordable housing obligations without placing additional strain on municipal budgets.
Since the inception of the Mount Laurel Doctrine 50 years ago, over 75,000 affordable homes have been created in New Jersey as a result — including over 25,000 new affordable homes since 2015 alone.
Since the New Jersey Supreme Court re-invigorated enforcement of the Mount Laurel Doctrine in 2015, Fair Share Housing Center — founded in 1975 by the community leaders, NAACP branches, and attorneys who brought the original Mount Laurel case — has worked to reach affordable housing settlements with over 350 municipalities.
“New Jersey’s affordable housing law was passed with bipartisan support from a broad coalition of elected officials and community stakeholders across the state,” added Gordon. “It’s encouraging that the vast majority of municipalities, many of whom supported the new law’s passage, are moving forward with creating homes under the new law.”
