3-22-2024 9:48pm

Governor Murphy Signs Affordable Housing Legislation

Donnella Tilery Editor

Governor Phil Murphy signed landmark affordable housing legislation to support towns in meeting their affordable housing obligations, building on his administration’s promise to create a stronger, fairer, and more affordable state for all New Jerseyans. The legislation develops a new system for municipalities to meet their Mount Laurel affordable housing obligations, replacing the current process that exists entirely in the courts.“One of our Administration’s top priorities has been to establish New Jersey as a national leader in expanding affordable housing,” said Governor Murphy.

“With today’s bill signing, we will be able to create more certainty and lower costs in New Jersey’s affordable housing landscape. By establishing new processes and practices for towns to meet their Mount Laurel affordable housing obligations, we are able to more quickly and efficiently allocate funding to municipalities and support those building affordable housing in our state. I am proud that my Administration and the Legislature have enacted a coherent and workable framework that no longer leaves this issue exclusively to the courts.”

The primary bill, A-4/S-50 (Lopez, Coughlin, Wimberly, Reynolds-Jackson/Singleton, Scutari, Ruiz), establishes a new, streamlined framework for determining and enforcing municipalities’ affordable housing obligations under the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Mount Laurel doctrine and the State’s Fair Housing Act. Starting with the compliance period that begins in 2025, the Department of Community Affairs will publish non-binding calculations of municipalities’ current and prospective need for affordable housing using a formula based on prior court decisions. Disputes about municipalities’ affordable housing obligations and plans to meet those obligations will be resolved on an expedited basis by the Judiciary with assistance from a new dispute resolution program. This process will replace the role previously played by the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH), which has been defunct for over a decade and is formally abolished under this bill. The new process will streamline compliance and reduce litigation-related delays to the construction of new affordable housing and will give municipalities and developers more certainty, which will enable smarter planning around where housing should be built.“We have an obligation to expand opportunities and make housing more affordable in our state,” said Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin. “When more families are secure in homes of their own, they contribute to their communities and our economy thrives. This legislation strikes the right balance in incentivizing opportunity and providing support for municipalities.”

READ THE REPORT: Governor Murphy Signs Landmark Affordable Housing Legislation