NJ Towns Lose Battle In Supreme Court Over Affordable Housing

The United States Supreme Court is siding with affordable housing in New Jersey.

On Tuesday, Justice Samuel Alito struck down a request for an emergency injunction filed by dozens of city officials in an effort to overturn affordable housing mandates.

The challenge was based on complaints that included urban municipalities not having enough affordable housing obligations as compared to their suburban counterparts.

"Using taxpayer dollars to prolong this litigation has only hurt the towns pursuing it," said Joshua Bauers, director of exclusionary zoning litigation at Fair Share Housing Center. "New Jersey's law gives towns broad flexibility to create affordable housing in ways that support workers, small businesses, and local economies."

This latest ruling follows another win for advocates of fair housing options in 2024, when a Mercer County judge upheld the 2024 Affordable Housing Reform Law signed by then-Governor Phil Murphy.

Three dozen local leaders, led by Borough of Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali, brought the lawsuit to contest the framework of the program.

"I remain proud of how far our coalition has come, and what remains ahead," Ghassali said on social media following Tuesday's ruling, staying steadfast on the idea that this "bad policy is actively destroying our communities."

In observing a Dec. 31 deadline to resolve further challenges through mediation, around 380 municipalities were able to develop plans compliant with the state mandates.

Over the last few days, leaders continued to put together plans and amendments ahead of the March 15 statewide deadline to show compliance with the Fourth Round requirements.

On Thursday, Bridgewater's Township Council unanimously introduced three ordinances to rezone properties to help the Township comply.

This came just days after Princeton became one of the latest municipalities to follow through after a Superior Court judge approved their plan to meet state-mandated obligations through 2035.

Each round is reassessed on a 10-year period.

In that order, two legal challenges against the plan were also dismissed after it was concluded that there was a realistic path to building affordable units and a settlement between Princeton and advocates at the Fair Share Housing Center was "fair and equitable."

Some organizations, such as Incline Capital, are still looking to take their claims against municipalities to trial even after their earlier challenges were dismissed by a judge.

The firm was the last of three recent challenges to be struck down against the Fourth Round affordable housing plan set forth by the City of Summit.

"The Supreme Court's decision is a victory for morality," said Rodger A. Bucchianeri, Managing Partner at Incline Capital. "The municipalities simply sought to hide behind their tactics to gain immunity from lawsuits and prevent reasonable development."

While Summit was not one of the parties involved in asking for the emergency injunction, Bucchianeri believes the court's decision should be used as a model for communities across the state.

"Rather than spending so much effort fighting...the municipalities should spend that time looking for ways to appropriately accommodate housing by utilizing inclusionary projects, compact designs, increased density..."

Tuesday's ruling also upholds the requirements set forth in the longstanding Mount Laurel Doctrine, a law that says every community in the Garden State must allow developers to build "fair share" affordable units for low- and moderate- income buyers.

"When most of the...one-bedroom apartments have rents for $4,000 a month, that is not affordability. That is a system failing the people it claims to help," claimed Ghassali on Wednesday.

Montvale's mayor said he and his supporters are "far from finished" and that new work is already underway. His statement is available at the bottom of this article.

Each municipality's housing plan can be viewed online at the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program website.

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