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NJ affordable housing deadline nears

Comply with mandate or lose local zoning control

By: Marsha A. Soltz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... A looming deadline with significant consequences is driving most municipalities to comply with the state's latest round of affordable housing mandates, while some local leaders and residents continue to voice their opposition.
..... By March 15, [2026] municipalities must adopt resolutions and ordinances on were and when they will build their assigned Fourth Round "fair share" quota of affordable housing or lose immunity from "builder's remedy" lawsuits.
..... If local governments don't approve their latest plans by the deadline, they could lose legal protections. That means developers might build high-density housing mixing affordable and market-rate units pretty much anywhere, even if it goes against local zoning or master plans. In short, the usual rules could be tossed aside, and towns might lose control over where and how much housing gets built.
..... "Once a municipality loses its immunity, its entire zoning scheme is exposed, not merely parcels a developer currently holds," said Teaneck Township Attorney Scott Salmon. "a builder's remedy lawsuit is one of the most dangerous places a municipality can be, and losing that immunity exposes a municipality to significant risk everywhere within its physical limits."
..... The bereft for municipality that comply with the state's mandate and deadline is a 10-year immunity from such lawsuits under Fourth Round affordable housing terms.
..... The Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization that oversees compliance with the state's 50-year-old Mount Laurel affordable housing doctrine, estimated on March 3 [2026] that "almost 400" or about 70% of the state's 564 municipalities had already filed compliant plans to meet their Fourth Round affordable housing assignments.
..... Fair Share's Executive Director Adam Gordon declared it "an unprecedented level of participation in New Jersey's affordable housing prices."
..... For example, in Parsippany, Morris County's biggest town, local leaders authorized seven mixed-use development zones in March, [2026] clearing he way to add 1,335 units over the next decade in a community that's already seen rapid growth.
..... Morris Township finalized redevelopment plans that call for 1,000 apartments, townhomes and other dwellings. Dover is considering a developer's plan for 640 apartments and ground-floor retail as well as other projects near the town's train station.
..... In Wayne, a new rental project at 1655 Valley Road will have 275 units in four residential buildings, each with an elevator installed. Forty-two apartments will be set aside for low-income households. It is just one of a number of approved housing developments.
..... In Franklin Lakes, proposals will rezone the Trelia property, 7.4 acres at 370-378 Pulsi Avenue, for 42 townhouse units, nine affordable, behind four single-family homes. Another ordinance proposes zoning the 120-plus-acre Becton property for "exclusionary" development at a density of six units per acre, totaling 640 market-rate townhouse unites and 160 affordable housing units. In those cases and others, the project typically envision a far large amount if market-rate housing that developers say is necessary to make the affordable units economical.
..... Some municipalities, on the other hand, have fought against the deadline and the newest state mandates.
..... An emergency appeal to delay implementation of the deadline by 29 municipalities in seven counties was denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on February 24. [2026]
..... What the reaming municipalities are doing during the final days before the deadline involves last-minute approval of plans amended in compliance with mediation agreements, and in some cases, testing the limits of Fair Share's patience with further attempts to bypass its guidelines.

Questions remain on Forth Round deadline

..... The fourth Round's series of deadlines comes to an end on March 15, [2026] but questions remain.
..... What is the future for the 16 municipality that are behind on affordable Housing compliance?
..... In September, [2025] Fair Share Ho suing formal advised the Dispute Resolution Program of 16 municipalities in seven counties hat they said were so far behind in affordable housing compliance that they should have their builder's remedy immunity removed. It is onto yet clear how many, if any, of them have made an effort to catch up.
..... What will happen to municipalities that miss the deadline?
..... Teaneck, for example, has scheduled its approval for a tabled ordinance dictating affordable housing terms for tis Ceder Lane project for March 16, [2026] the day after the March 15 [2026] deadline, arguing March 15 [2026] us a Sunday and therefore a non-business day.
..... How will the developer ordinance complaints be handled?
..... There is nothing in the Fourth Round schedule to address developer filed challenges that arise over the timing or content of resolutions and ordinance associated with their protects. Three developers have filed such complaints against Teaneck, charing content changes without approval, late or missing Ordinances.
..... How will ongoing medication disputes that go beyond March 15 [2026] be handed?
..... Disputes wee supposed to be resolved by December 31, 2025. However, Montvale, which led the successful 29-town Local Leader for Responsible Planning challenge with the U.S. Supreme Court, filed its own challenge March 2 [2026] in State Superior Court It is seeking to protect its immunity from builder's remedy lawsuits while it continues a dispute with Fair Share Housing over the zoning for its 34-acre KPMG property past the March 15 [2026] deadline.
..... A Dispute Resolution Program judge ruled on February 10 [2026] against Montvale's proposal to retain provisions for a data center on the site, saying it should only be zoned for affordable housing. Montvale is arguing the judge's ruling was a recommendation, not a final decision, and that it had net Fourth Round quotas would like KPMG site. "A developer would like to retain the right to develop the property with data center," according to Mayor Mike Ghassali. Fair Share Ho suing disagrees, stating the dispute with be heard by a judge this spring or summer. [2026]

How NJ affordable housing began

..... Those trying to understand the state's current affordable housing pressures need to look back to the settlement of Black families in Burlington County's Mount Laurel around a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1800s. their descendants found themselves being priced out of housing during the 1950s and 1960s as White families migrated to the suburbs from nearby Philadelphia and Camden.
..... "a lot of people think racism was just down South, but there was, unfortunately, a lot of racisms in New Jersey as well, particularly South Jersey," said Tyrus Ballard, president of the South Burlington NAACP.
..... South Burlington's lawsuit resulted in the 1975 New Jersey Supreme Court ruling called Mount Laurel I, stating municipalities had to provide a "realistic opportunity for affordable housing by eliminating exclusionary zoning. Its goals were to spread out responsibility to support such housing, allowing residents to afford housing near employment, better schools and health care.
..... Mount Laurel I was followed by Mount Laurel II in 1983, allowing "builder;s remedy" lawsuits in towns with insufficient affordable housing. the Fair Housing Act and the creation of the council of Affordable Housing to oversee compliance followed in 1985.

How NJ's March 15 [2026] housing deadline came to be

..... At first, municipalities we were allowed to enter Regional Contribution agreements, under which half there affordable housing quotas could be farmed out to other towns. many municipalities spent the next 20 years collecting building fees for donation to inner-city projects while minimizing affordable housing in their borders before the provision was discontinued in 2008.
..... Governor Chris Christie was not a fan of affordable housing during his term from 2010 to 2018, attempting to dismantle the Council of affordable Housing and seize affordable housing trust funds. the council failed to cerate a Third Round of affordable housing quotas and was declared dysfunctional in 2015, when oversight was return to the courts.
..... What Governor Phil Murphy deemed a "monumental" and "historic" restructuring of he affordable housing law in March 2024 streamlined the resident qualifications process, introduced a new formula for setting quotas, established a series of deadlines and introduced an appeals strutter through its Dispute Resolution Program. Municipalities were issued initial quotas in October 2024 with a final adoption deadline of March 15. [2026]

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