6 events in Passaic County with a date

Most towns OK housing mandate

Some still fighting state quotas for affordability

By: William Westhoven
Morristown Daily Record
USA today Network - New Jersey

..... After a January 31 [2025] deadline, almost 80% of New Jersey municipalities have signed on to participate in the fourth round of a state-mandated order to build more affordable housing.
..... At the same time, a small but growing consortium of towns had vowed to keep fighting, despite two recent court setbacks in their challenge to the law enacted last year. [2024]
..... As of Thursday, [02/06/2025] 440 of the state's 564 municipalities had adopted resolutions to declare their according with the housing mandate, according to the fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit that advocates, and sometimes litigate, on behalf of the program.
..... "It's encouraging that the vast majority of municipalities are moving forward with creating homes under the new law," Adam Gordon, executive director of Fair Sabre housing, said in a release after the deadline. "In the midst of a deep housing crisis, New Jersey's new affordable housing law creates a win-win situation by giving municipal leaders tools to plan in the best way for their communities."
..... The mandate, born of a decades-long series of court rulings known as the Mount Laurel doctrine, has fueled a wave of construction in what is already the nation's most densely populated state. The coalition challenging the process recently added three more municipalities, expanding to 28 total. They filed a new lawsuit on February 3. [2025]
..... Under the law adopted last year, [2024] all New Jersey towns had until the end of January [2025] to declare whether they would accept the 10-eyar affordable housing goals announced in October [2024] by the Department of Community Affairs. their other option was to challenge the numbers by presenting tier won goal calculation to the state's new Affordable Housing dispute Resolution Program.
..... Towns that failed to meet the January 31 [2025] deadline may still be working on their strategy. they may already have agreed to separate goals in settlements with the Fair Share Housing Center. Or they may have decided to take their changes in a court battle, as Edison did when it objected to the state's proposal that it could accommodate 727 new homes.
..... Collectively, the Community Affairs goals could require the construction of 85,000 more affordable housing units over the next decade, along with the renovation of 65,000 existents residences.
..... Towns are not required to build their own housing, although some, like Madison, have approved municipal projects to cerate all-affordable dwellings to meet their Mount Laurel obligations. Most municipality, however, choose to set their master plan s and local zoning to entice private developers to construct the required units.
..... Towns that do not accommodate developed willing to commit a small percentage (an often negotiable number, up to 20%) of their inventory to be sold at "affordable" rates can be hauled into courts. Though so-called "builder's remedy" lawsuits, judges can award broad leverage to developers to build whatever they wish and sell or rent at market rates if they include an affordable-housing component.
..... any interested party can file a challenge to the municipal calculation before the end of February. [2025] The Dispute Resolution Center must issue a decision no later than March 31. [2025] Towns have until June 30 [2025] to adopt what are known as housing elements and fair share plans, including proposed drafts of zoning and other measures.

Which towns are suing?

..... The original consortium of nine towns that filed a lawsuit in September [2024] to suspend implementation of the program has grown to 28.
..... "The law imposes new affirmative obligations upon municipalities that exceed any remedy ever imposed under the Mount Laurel doctrine," said one of the legal claims filed by the towns, which call themselves Local Leaders of Responsible Planning.
..... Most are in North Jersey, where densely populated communities worry about the increased traffic, utility consumption and school enrollment that the new units would require.
..... "High-density housing may seem like a solution, but it raises serous concerns about our infrastructure and budget," Parsippany Mayor James Barberio said at a 2024 town hall presentation on the issue attended by several mayors. "It seems like the state wants us to sacrifice quality for quantity."
..... Parsippany, Little Falls and Warren are the latest towns to join the lawsuits. The other plaintiffs are:
* Bergen County: Allendale, Closter, Franklin Lakes, Hillsdale, Montvale, Norwood, Old Tappan, Oradell, Washington Township, Westwood and Wyckoff.
* Morris County: Denville, East Hanover, Florham Park, Hanover, Mendham, Montville and Wharton.
* Passaic County: Totowa.
* Essex County: Ceder Grove and Millburn
* Hunterdon County: west Amwell.
* Monmouth County: Wall and Holmdel
* Salem County: Mannington.
..... Despite two recent denials of their claims by a state Superior Court judge in Mercer County, the consortium field a new suit last Monday [02/10/2025] in yet another attempt to pause the process.
..... The second complaint names New Jersey, the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program and Glenn Grant, New Jersey's acting director of the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, as defendants. The plaintiff towns allege that the court process has denied them due process and violated their civil rights.

What is forcing towns to build?

..... The Mount Laurel court ruling required municipalities to provide their "fair share" of housing for low- and moderate-income families.
..... Governor Phil Murphy and state legislation enshrined the gaol in a law passed last year [2024] that sought to smooth enforcement of those obligations.
..... "We face a somewhat perfect storm of low housing inventory and escalating pricing, which leaves thousands of working families all across our state with no viable options," said Senator Troy Singleton, D-Burlington, a sponsor of the 2024 bill. "without securing the most basic human needs - a place to live - the other policies we pass cannot be as effective."

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