Your N.J. Town Probably Has To Make Room For Low-Income Housing

Hundreds of New Jersey towns will likely have to make room for low-income residents who haven't been able to afford a place to live over the past decade or so, according to the state Supreme Court.

The court rejected the efforts of 13 towns to exclude low-income housing, saying the New Jersey Constitution requires municipalities to address a backlog that developed during a 16-year period.

The towns may not have properly met the needs of low-income people between 1999 and 2015, when affordable housing regulations were in dispute. Now those towns may be on the hook to zone for 120,000 homes for affordable housing units.

“We hold that towns are constitutionally obligated to provide a realistic opportunity for their fair share of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households formed during the gap period and presently existing in New Jersey,” Justice Jaynee LaVecchia wrote in an unanimous 32-page decision.

Those 13 towns are:

• Barnegat
• Brick
• Toms River
• Jackson
• Lacey
• Little Egg Harbor
• Manchester
• Berkeley
• Waretown
• Stafford Township
• Toms River
• Beach Haven
• Pine Beach
• Point Pleasant Boro

Other towns that filed an amicus brief in the case were South Brunswick, Colts Neck, Middletown and Millstone. The Fair Share Housing Center, an affordable housing nonprofit, was a party to the lawsuit.

Towns had argued that they should not have to provide for affordable housing for that gap period because there were no valid rules in place. Now these towns are worried about how to determine what towns are on the hook and what towns are not.

“Our concern now is how do you actually figure this out,” Mike Cerra, assistant executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, told NJSpotlight, comparing the situation to “the end of a movie that sets up the sequel with a plot twist. It seems very likely that we will be back before this same court again.”

The court’s ruling follows an earlier 2015 decision by the court which was designed to break through the "bureaucratic logjam" preventing proper enforcement of New Jersey’s fair housing laws, known as the Mount Laurel doctrine, by turning over enforcement to the trial courts, according to a Fair Share Housing Center release.

More than 90 towns across New Jersey — including Mount Laurel, Cherry Hill, Woodbridge, Toms River, Edison and Bridgewater — have reached agreements with advocates, nonprofits and developers establishing obligations of more than 30,000 homes. These settlements will foster the redevelopment of vacant strip malls, office parks and industrial sites into new communities, according to the Fair Share Housing Center.

A trial is also currently underway in Mercer County to establish housing obligations for towns in that county. Ewing, Robbinsville and Hamilton have already reached settlements establishing obligations totaling 1,500 homes.

“Shovels are already in the ground to build more homes for New Jersey families,” said Kevin Walsh, executive director of the Fair Share Housing Center. “This decision clears away one of the main obstacles remaining in the fight for fair housing in New Jersey. The towns who were fighting in court are outside the mainstream and now know that they will not be rewarded for further obstruction and delay.”

Patch file photo