Montclair’s Affordable Housing Plan Moves Forward, Gets Board Approval

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The Montclair Planning Board has given a stamp of approval to the town’s affordable housing plan as a state deadline ticks closer.

The board voted unanimously in favor of the municipal housing proposal at their meeting earlier this month. It now heads to the Montclair Township Council for another vote. The deadline to adopt the plan and send it to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs is June 30.

Watch footage from the planning board’s May 19 meeting below (article continues underneath).

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)

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.

A town hall meeting about Montclair's 2025 housing plan took place on March 13. Watch the video below, via MontclairTV34.

• See Related: Montclair Issues Rare ‘Section 8’ Vouchers, Many Remain On Wait List

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