New Jersey towns face key affordable housing deadline this month

New Jersey’s local officials face a crucial deadline this month in connection with the state’s ambitious affordable housing goals.

By Jan. 31, each municipality across the state has to pass a resolution to either accept the number of affordable housing units the state has assigned it to develop over the next 10 years, or file an official objection and propose its own figures.

In October, New Jersey officials released target numbers for the state's next 10-year round of affordable housing requirements, which seeks to build more than 84,000 affordable homes in the state's suburbs and rehabilitate another 65,000 units in urban municipalities by 2035.

The plan stems from a 50-year-old statewide mandate, known as the Mount Laurel doctrine, that says every municipality needs to contribute its fair share of affordable housing. In 2024, state lawmakers passed a new affordable housing law that laid out how each town’s obligation would be calculated for the upcoming round. Figures are based on factors such as average income and the amount of developable land in each town, under the state’s methodology.

On average, most towns are required to build roughly 150 new affordable housing units over the next decade, though some have to build considerably more. Three municipalities, such as Wayne Township, have to build 1,000 new affordable homes, the maximum allowed under the law.

We, as towns, really have very tight deadlines to meet now.

Mia Sacks, council president for Princeton, New Jersey

The end of January deadline to accept or propose new numbers is likely to inject drama into an already contentious debate around affordable housing in the Garden State. Just days before the state released its requirements in October, a small set of towns filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2024 law.

Twenty-six municipalities have joined the lawsuit so far, including Parsippany-Troy Hills and Wall Township, and at least three others are planning to sign on, local officials told Gothamist. They say the law unfairly requires them to build more and more housing without accounting for how much development they can truly support given their lack of available land and the increased burden on infrastructure like roads and sewers.

On Thursday, Judge Robert Lougy denied the towns’ request to put the law on hold while the litigation plays out. Municipal officials from the group said they plan to appeal the ruling. However, they’ll now have to work toward fulfilling their requirements even as their lawsuit moves forward.

Mia Sacks, council president for Princeton, New Jersey, who is not a party in the lawsuit, said that after Lougy’s ruling “if there was any ambiguity about what the time frame would be” for all municipalities to comply with the law “that seems to have been laid to rest.”

Princeton has an obligation to build 276 new affordable housing units under the new requirements. Historically, Princeton has faced some fierce opposition to affordable housing development from groups of vocal residents.

“And so it is game on and we, as towns, really have very tight deadlines to meet now,” Sacks said. “We have our work cut out for us.”

This is unsustainable.

Daniel Croson, incoming Warren Township Committee member

Officials from several towns involved in the litigation said that, despite their intention to keep fighting the requirements, they do plan to meet the deadlines laid out by the law — including this month’s deadline to accept or propose new numbers.

“Our focus is on making the case that this [law] is unsustainable while still being responsible stewards for our taxpayers,” said Daniel Croson, an incoming Warren Township Committee member who was elected in November.

Croson and Lisa Lontai — who became Warren Township’s mayor this week — said they intend to join the lawsuit seeking to overturn the law. Warren Township is mandated to build 262 new units during the next affordable housing round, according to state data.

Lontai said Warren Township officials are working to come up with their own number to counter the state’s requirement. But she said she’s concerned about the new process the state has laid out for handling towns that raise disputes about their obligations.

'The Program'

That process is known as “The Program,” and was also created under the 2024 law. It allows towns to negotiate with the state to reduce their affordable housing obligations — in a process that’s moderated by an independent panel of judges — instead of entering into costly litigation. Towns also have the option to file in court to get plans approved if they so choose.

Lontai said she is concerned that dispute resolutions under The Program could bog down what she described as an already-tight timeline for towns to submit their plans for meeting their requirements by June 30.

“Let's say they get 200 disputes at the end of January. How are they going to effectively deal with all this?” she asked. “We feel like this was rushed through and not really planned out very well.”

Housing advocates say they’re confident that many towns will accept the numbers that the state handed out in October.

“From what I've been hearing, there are a lot of towns that think the numbers that came out from [the state] were pretty reasonable. And so they're just going to move forward,” said Adam Gordon, director of Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit that negotiates affordable housing plans with cities and towns across the state.

Sacks, the Princeton council president, said it’s “very likely” her community will accept the requirements from the state.

“I think the easiest part of all of this is whether or not you accept your number. The difficult part is how to implement,” Sacks said.

She noted that during the last round, Princeton's housing plan was 1,200 pages.

“It’s a tremendous amount of work,” she said