NJ towns take affordable housing battle to U.S. Supreme Court
By: William Westoven
Morristown Daily Record
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... After five loses in lower courts, a coalition of over two dozen New Jersey towns is taking its fight against the state's affordable housing mandate to the U.S. Supreme Court.
.....
The group of suburban communities, called Local Leaders for Responsible Planning, said it field an emergency application on Wednesday, February 4. [2026] It asks the court to suspend a state law that requires communities to adopt mere housing-friendly zoning rules by March 15. [2026]
..... The request went to Justice Samuel Alito, a Garden State native who handles 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes New Jersey.
..... The coalition's previous bid to block the state law was denied the 3rd Circuit on January 30. [2026]
..... "We pledged from the beginning to take this fight as fa as necessary, and today [02/04/2026] that means the United States Supreme Court," Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali, a leader of the group, said in a statement. "We ask Justice Samuel Alito to grant a pause of the state's arbitrary March 15 [2026] deadline so we can first have our claims decided in court."
....."I am beyond proud of our coalition sticking together against developers and special interests and taking this fight to save our communities to the highest court in our land," Ghassali said.
..... The 2024 affordable housing law built upon the Mount Laurel doctrine, a decades-old series of New Jersey court decisions that requires every town to allow tis "fair share" of affordable housing, a number now determined by a state formula.
..... Implementation of the state's fourth round of housing quotas - are already well underway in many towns - is expected to result in thousands of new housing units over the next decade for low- and moderate-income residents, Those units, however, are often built alongside huge additions of market-rate residences that developers say are necessary to make the projects financially viable.
..... Towns like Montvale have complained that they are forced to accept massive developments that burden local roads, school systems and municipal services.
..... The coalition's legal challenges, however, have been dismissed on five occasions over the past year, [2025]
three times in state courts and twice at the federal level
.....
"New Jersey's affordable housing law gives towns a lot of flexibility to create new homes in a wide variety of ways that straighten their local economies - and the vast majority of towns are already doing just that," Joshua Bauers, director of exclusionary zoning litigation at the nonprofit Fair Share Housing Center,s aid in response to the latest filing. "Municipal officials who would rather litigate endlessly than allow inclusive communities are ultimately harming their own towns."
.....
The Fair Share Housing Center said on January 5 [2026] that about 380 municipalities had developed affordable housing plans by December 31. [2025] another 40 missed that deadline, some due to "minor disputes" likely to be resolved soon, the group said.
Towns' pitch to Supreme Court
..... The municipal coalition's original complaint, field in 2024, was dismissed a year ago [2025] by state Superior Court Judge Robert Loughy in Mercer County, who turned away a second challenge form the towns. Two requests to the state appellate branch, followed by an appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court, also failed. U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi dismissed the federal lawsuit last month. [01/2026]
..... The coalition;s Supreme Court application argues that the New Jersey law violates the constitutional right to equal protection by relying upon a 40-year-old formula that requires communities to zone for quadruple their "fair share" of affordable housing.
..... The housing mandate has "produced few meaningful results, leaving New Jersey with an approach many see as impractical, burdensome, and ineffective," the brief reads.
..... the system traces back half a century to the state Supreme Court's Mount Laurel decision. That 1975 ruling outlawed "exclusionary zoning" which the court said was designed to keep poor people and minorities out of some towns. The ruling directed municipalities to change local laws. Subsequent rulings exposed towns to "builder's remedy" lawsuits, in which developers could ask the courts to overrule local zoning.
NJ towns challenging the housing mandate
..... Local leaders for Responsible Planning consists of 29 towns, but not all have been directly involved in every court action, said the coalitions attorney Michael Collins. Parsippany and Wharton, listed as members of the group, are not named in the Supreme Court application.
* Bergen County: Allendale, Closter, Franklin Lakes, Hillsdale, Montvale, Norwood, Old Tappan, Oradell, Washington Township, Westwood and Wychoff.
* Morris County: denville, East Hanover, Florham Park, Hanover, Parsippany, Mendham, Montivle and Wharton
* Essex County: Ceder Grove, Mill burn and West Caldwell.
* Hunterdon County: West Amwell.
* Monmouth County: Wall and Holmdel
* Passaic County: Little Falls and Totowa
* Salem County: Mannington
* Somerset County: Warren.
Trump take on affordable housing
..... The legal challenges comes amid national concerns about the rising cost of living and an affordable housing crisis.
..... During a January 29 [2026] Cabinet meeting, Prescient Donald Trump expressed his preferred solution: making housing more affordable by lowering interest rates, not reducing the cost of homes.
..... "I don't want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their home," the president said. "And they can be assured that's what's going to happen."
..... He suggested that the lower rates he expects to be championed by his upcoming pick to lead the Federal Reserve will allow more Americans to buy homes even as housing prices climb.