NJ Builders Sue Towns Over Reduced Affordable Housing

The New Jersey Builders Association filed a lawsuit against every town in the state that is aiming to reduce the amount of affordable homes they need to build according to state law, Gothamist reported.

The association is asking a state-established panel of retired judges to reject the towns’ requests and urge them to fulfill their original quotas.

The lawsuit targets 159 towns. Those municipalities are seeking to reduce the number of affordable housing units they need to build by a collective 14,000 units, according to the complaint.

In October, the state’s Department of Community Affairs tasked every municipality with building or restoring a certain number of affordable housing units, pushing towards a goal of 84,000 new units and 65,000 repaired units within the next decade.

More than a quarter of the municipalities committed to the process, however, have sought to reduce their quotas, claiming a lack of developable land or infrastructure. Towns have until June to submit affordable housing plans; the association claims the towns need to apply for vacant land adjustments at that time.

“It’s imperative that we continue to oppose this municipal playbook of obfuscation and delay,” New Jersey Builders Association CEO Jeff Kolakowski said in a statement.

The director of the association representing mayors and elected officials in the state called the legal action “reckless.”

All municipalities in the state are required to contribute a “fair share” of affordable housing under the longstanding Mount Laurel doctrine. Last year, the state passed a law that included guidelines on calculating the amount of affordable housing each town needs to add over the course of a decade.

Since the law was enacted, many of the state’s towns have been fighting against the requirements. Last month, a judge — twice — denied a request to halt the implementation of the affordable housing mandate.

The state’s municipalities had until the end of January to accept their affordable housing obligation numbers or present alternate calculations.

— Holden Walter-Warner