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NJ housing suffers from loophole that helps landlords evict families

By: Khabirah H. Myers
Your Turn Guest columnist

..... Editor's Note: Mary Jone is a real tenant residing in New Jersey who has encouraged the author to share her story. The author has changed the names and personal identifiers of all parties - including Mary Jones - to protect their privacy.
..... In 2003, Mary Jones and her 2-year-old son, Muhammad, moved into a one-bedroom, market-rent apartemnt in New Jersey. Landlord ABC {roperitees LLC requried her to sigen a written lease. though ABC knew Mary would be ling with Muhammad, it said only her name could be on the lease since she was he only adult in the household.
..... After years of neglect by ABC, the apartment was in serious need of repairs by 2026. its only toilet stopped working. Muhammad, 25, wanted to stay close to his mother, who was now 74 and dealing with a disability. But though he was college-educated and employed, Muhammad made too little to rent his own apartment, let alone buy a home in New Jersey.
..... Mary told ABC about the broken toilet, to no avail. She told the landlord she would withhold her rent until repairs were made and did so for several months. Soon after ABC served her with an eviction complaint alleging Mary had allowed someone to live with her without the landlord's approval. In support, ABC attached pictures of Muhammad entering the premises.
..... Mary noted that the "unauthorized" occupant was her biological son, Muhammad, whom the landlord had known about for years. ABC refused to withdraw the complaint, refused to add Muhammad's name to the lease and intimate that his presence made Mary's apartment overcrowded.
..... After a lengthy trial, the court dismissed he eviction complaint, not because Muhammad was a lawful tenant and hot beaus ABC had retaliated agonist Mary for exercising her legal right to withhold rent to compel necessary repairs, but because the corporation couldn't prove Muhammad still lives in the unit.
..... Mary's story is not unique. Across New Jersey, head-of-houshold tenants - particularly those who, like Mary, are unwed mothers of low income - live with adult children whose mere presence is putting their private, unsubsidized housing in jeopardy.
..... Although the reasons for this peril are myriad, I want to focus on what I believe are two main reasons: (1) New Jersey does not have an anti-discrimination law that prohibits private landlords from preventing family members from residing together, regardless of age; and (2) private landlords sue that as a loophole to discriminate against and evict certain people the landlords deem unsavory.

Loophole worsens crisis

..... The United States is in the middle of a housing crisis of which New Jersey sits at the epicenter.
..... A recent report by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies found that in 2025, the largest decrease in the homeownership rate in the United States was among younger adults, many of whom "double up" or live with family because they cannot afford to form households of their own.
..... Earlier this year, [2026] New Jersey's Department of Community Affairs Commissioner, Jacquelyn A. Suarez, announced hat eviction or its risk was the second-largest cause of homelessness in New Jersey and that nearly 24% of people evictions as a prime reason for their lack of housing.
..... Furthermore, even though the legal definition of overcrowding in New Jersey pertains to inadequate square footage per occupant and bit the number of occupants or bedrooms a rental unit has, many New Jersey landlords prosecute their residential tenants for overcrowding merely because of the number of people with whom they reside. This practice not only is misguided but often reflects nefarious objectives and prejudices landlords harbor about certain types of tenants.
..... Addi tonally, studies continue to show that a litigant;s race, income, gender and martial status influence judicial outcomes as well as a landlord's decision to file an eviction action in the first place. that might account in some manner for a fining that in 2025, 47% of the people experiencing homelessness in New Jersey were Black, though Black people make up less than 16% of New Jersey's population, U.S. census reports said last year. [2025]
..... As NYU's Jacob William Faber and Jocelyn Pak drummond put it, "Although America's racial geography may no longer resemble a legally enforced and explicit system of apartheid, it retains many of the hallmarks of such a system through ostensibly race-neutral - but nevertheless discriminatory - structural conditions."

Protections ends at 1B

..... Under New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination, "familial status" means, in relevant part, being pregnant or being the parent/legal custodian of a child who is younger than 18 years. Hence the LAD's familial status protection ends once all family members reach age 18. The age limit therefore creates a loophole in he LAD for private landlords to discriminate against and evict certain types of people the landlord deem unfavorable.
..... Despite all th4e data, no substantial legislation has been introduced to remove the "familiar status" age limit to prevent New Jersey tenants form facing eviction for residing with their adult children or for overcrowding. Yet there are many instances in which United States jurisprudence has protected the sanctity and integrity of the family, including the right of family members to reside together regardless of composition or age. Expanding the LAD's definition of "familial status" would allow more New Jersey families to lawfully say together, help stabilize New Jersey's housing criss and reduce homelessness.
..... In 2018, our state Appellate Division poignantly held that "what constitutes a 'familial relationship' in perforce a fact-sensitive analysis, driven by evolving social and moral forces."
..... Now is the time for the New Jersey Legislature to put to bed the inappropriate assumptions, blind spots, outdated priorities, political compromises and interest-group pressure that may have influenced how our Legislature chose to defined "familial status." It is to expand this protection to include all people not based on a myopic definition but based on the nature and quality of people's relationships.

..... Khaboirah H. Myers is an attorney and associate clinical professor in the Civil Litigation and Practice Clinic at the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School. Myers wishes to thank research assistant Natasha Bist, her students and the Seton Hall Law colleagues who provided guidance, support and reading materials.

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