Affordable Housing In Montclair: Town To Hold Public Meeting

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A town hall meeting on affordable housing will take place in Montclair on Thursday, March 13.

The public meeting is being held to discuss the town’s 2025-2035 housing element and fair share plan, which must be submitted to the state.

The meeting will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. in the council chambers at the municipal building, 205 Claremont Avenue. Members of the public are welcome to attend. Remote participation will be available via Zoom (log in here, using passcode: 961042). People participating remotely will be limited to written questions and comments.

State officials recently released the affordable housing quotas that New Jersey towns and cities will have to meet over the next 10 years, including Montclair. Read More: Montclair Gets Its New Affordable Housing Numbers From State

The calculations include numbers for “present need” (existing housing units deemed substandard/deficient and in need of repair), and “prospective need” (the number of new units that will be needed based on population trends).

Here are the totals for Montclair:

• Present Need – 132
• Prospective Need – zero

The Montclair Town Council accepted these numbers in a resolution at their Jan. 7 meeting.

Towns and cities don’t have to create the housing themselves, but must ensure that the threshold is met – often by requiring a certain percentage of affordable housing units as part of local real estate development projects. Other ways to meet the quota include creating 100-percent affordable housing projects, preserving existing affordable homes, or creating accessory dwelling units.

• See Related: Accessory Dwelling Units In Montclair (What To Know About New Law)
• See Related: Montclair Needs Much More Affordable Housing; Waiting List Grows

The Department of Planning and Community Development provided an overview of the new affordable housing regulations to the Township Council in July 2024. View it online here.

Graduate students from the Bloustein School at Rutgers University recently worked with the Montclair Township Housing Commission to assess local affordable housing options. View the final report here.

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