Here are the top 10 places where New Jersey wants to build the most affordable housing

In 2025, New Jersey will embark on an ambitious plan to build or rehab tens of thousands of homes for low- and middle-income people over the next decade.

The plan includes mandates on how many affordable housing units each of the state’s 564 municipalities have to contribute. The state determined it needs more that 84,000 new affordable homes and another 65,000 rehabbed units. On average, that comes out to about 150 new affordable homes for each locale, according to a Gothamist review of the data.

Cities and towns now have until June 2025 to come up with a strategy for how to fulfill their mandates, and then the state has to approve those plans.

But some towns are being asked to do more than others. Some municipalities with higher average incomes and more available developable land received a higher number of affordable building requirements, according to the state’s methodology.

Gothamist tallied the top 10 places where New Jersey wants to build the most new affordable housing between 2025 and 2035, according to data from the state Department of Community Affairs. They are:

• Wayne Township
• Paramus Borough
• Secaucus
• Roxbury Township
• South Brunswick Township
• Jackson Township
• Linden
• Monroe Township
• Wall Township
• Edison Township

heading

What to know:

image

image

None

caption

body

• New Jersey’s unique affordable housing mandate is known as the Mount Laurel doctrine, which says all municipalities must contribute their “fair share” of affordable housing.
• If towns don’t comply with Mount Laurel, they may lose their immunity from being sued by builders who could force local officials to develop housing. This happened to Wayne and South Brunswick townships during the last 10-year round of housing obligations.
• Towns can earn bonus credits that lower their obligation number by constructing specialized dwellings, such as senior housing. No town is allowed to lower their obligation by more than 25% with bonuses.

We’ve omitted what are known as “qualified urban aid municipalities” from the top 10 list. Those municipalities do not face the same mandate to build new affordable housing and instead are given a mandate from the state to rehabilitate existing affordable housing. Newark, for example, is required to rehab more than 4,600 affordable housing units over the next decade, according to the state data.

Wayne Township

County: Passaic

Population: 52,764

Obligation: 1,000 units

Wayne Township is Passaic County’s largest municipality geographically. New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs, which manages the Mount Laurel affordable housing program, had calculated the township’s obligation at 1,746 units. But that was reduced because of a provision in the state law that caps the number of affordable units any municipality can be required to build at 1,000. It’s one of three towns in the state subjected to the rule.

Of all the towns on our list, Wayne has arguably had the most tumultuous time fulfilling its Mount Laurel obligation. In October, town officials passed an ordinance that will allow a couple hundred affordable housing units to be built as part of a major redevelopment of the former Toys ‘R’ Us headquarters. But the move came after a seven-year fight in which town officials opposed the development plans put forward by the new property owners, who, in return, threatened to sue Wayne.

However, Town Council President Jason DeStefano said those affordable homes will go towards satisfying units Wayne still owes from the last round of Mount Laurel — not the 1,000 homes they were just assigned.

Town officials have hinted they may continue to fight their obligations moving forward. In March, the Town Council passed a resolution to oppose the state’s affordable housing mandate for the upcoming round.

Paramus Borough

County: Bergen

Population: 26,698

Obligation: 1,000 units

Known as one of New Jersey’s shopping hubs, Paramus is home to three malls and has seen a boom in apartment construction in recent years.

In September, the Bergen Record reported that Mayor Christopher DiPiazza said the Town Council would discuss limiting multifamily development moving forward, while still working to meet its affordable housing obligation.

After the numbers for the next round were released in October, DiPiazza criticized the state’s mandate with concerns about how population growth would take a toll on the town’s infrastructure, such as roads and sewers.

Secaucus

County: Hudson

Population: 21,005

Obligation: 1,000 units

Like Paramus, Secaucus has broken ground on several new, large apartment complexes with luxury amenities and close proximity to New York City. Those projects have also helped the town generate several hundred affordable units as well.

Roxbury Township

County: Morris

Population: 23, 205

Obligation: 989 units

In November, Roxbury Councilmember Fred Hall called the town’s obligation “ridiculously large” and claimed that building nearly 1,000 units of affordable housing would “drastically change our community.”

The town’s attorney is Republican state Sen. Anthony Bucco, who said at a November Town Council meeting that Roxbury was in process of reviewing the requirements and looking for a way to reduce the number.

Under the state guidelines, municipalities have until the end of January to either accept their obligations or come back to the state with a different number and an explanation for why that state should approve a change.

South Brunswick Township

County: Middlesex

Population: 46,535

Obligation: 959 units

Despite having a history of fighting affordable housing, South Brunswick in October became the first town in the state to commit to a plan for meeting its requirements over the next decade.

Under a deal that South Brunswick officials made in court with Fair Share Housing Center, a New Jersey nonprofit that negotiates affordable housing plans with towns, the municipality is planning to meet its obligations by developing affordable housing at about 20 sites.

Jackson Township

County: Ocean

Population: 60,275

Obligation: 954 units

This Ocean County town was among a group of municipalities that in January lost an appeal of a failed affordable housing lawsuit.

The 17 towns banded together in 2022 to sue Gov. Phil Murphy, arguing that under the state’s Fair Housing Act he should have to appoint new members to the defunct Council on Affordable Housing, a state entity that previously oversaw affordable housing matters. The towns said in their suit that the council would protect towns from “runaway development.”

Former Gov. Chris Christie gutted the council’s funding in 2010, leaving it unable to function. Instead, state officials began relying on the courts to negotiate between the state and local towns in developing affordable housing plans.

Linden

County: Union

Population: 43,950

Obligation: 787 units

Linden is one of more than 30 New Jersey towns that are part of the state's Transit Village program, a 25-year-old statewide program that funnels state and federal funding to certain towns to promote development near NJ Transit stations.

In exchange for funding, towns like Linden have agreed to zone property near these transit hubs for residential development. With the zoning already in place, these towns will be well-positioned to take advantage of bonuses for transit-oriented development outlined in New Jersey’s affordable housing law to meet the mandates.

Monroe Township

County: Middlesex

Population: 48,568

Obligation: 751 units

When the Department of Community Affairs published statewide affordable housing obligations in October, it also announced continued funding for the kinds of projects designed to serve vulnerable groups that Monroe has at least started to build.

In July 2023, the township broke ground on a new affordable housing project that will provide 80 homes for veterans, which qualifies under the state’s program.

Wall Township

County: Monmouth

Population: 26,530

Obligation: 744 units

The Monmouth County town of Wall is the only municipality on our list that has so far joined a lawsuit with more than 20 other towns seeking to invalidate the state’s affordable housing law.

Wall and the other towns claim the law unfairly requires them to develop more and more housing without accounting for how much development they can support.

Edison Township

County: Middlesex

Population: 106,836

Obligation: 727 units

Edison is the third town from Middlesex County to make the top 10, along with Monroe and South Brunswick.

Town councilmembers recently expressed reservations about Edison’s ability to fulfill its affordable housing obligation, noting there are currently over 600 apartments in the community that have serious issues, including plumbing and heating, that first need to be addressed.