October 22, 2024
Edward Purcell, Jason Hyndman and Victoria Britton
How Recent Legislation Re-Writes Affordable Housing in New Jersey
On March 20, 2024, Governor Murphy approved legislation to streamline the process for municipalities to comply with the Mount Laurel Doctrine-i.e. the State’s Constitutional mandate that each municipality is obligated to affirmatively create a realistic opportunity for the development of sufficient low and moderate income housing. The legislation, assembly bill A-4 (“A-4”) made significant changes to the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”). These changes are going into effect just before the new ten (10) year municipal compliance round, the 4th round, is set to begin in 2025. A-4 represents a substantial revision of the statutory framework enacted to ensure compliance with the Mount Laurel Doctrine. Importantly, A-4 clarifies the methodology for quantifying municipal fair share obligations, i.e. their present and prospective need for the creation of affordable housing. It also significantly revises how bonus credits are calculated and provides new incentives for additional types of housing, including family units, redevelopment and supportive housing. It also completely reworks the process by which municipalities can obtain immunity from “builder’s remedy” lawsuits – i.e. exclusionary development lawsuits brought by developers to effectively set aside a municipality’s zoning regulations applicable to a site, so that affordable housing may be constructed there.
With respect to process, A-4 abolished the long defunct Council on Affordable Housing (“COAH”) – the State agency previously tasked with the administration of affordable housing. Rather than proceed through COAH, municipalities which wish to retain their immunity from builder’s remedy lawsuits must either proceed before a dispute resolution process the “Program” (and be subject to very tight deadlines) or obtain a declaratory judgement from a county level housing judge.
This white paper provides a high-level analysis of the newly established process, timeline, methodology, and other significant changes to New Jersey’s affordable housing requirements, as well as the recent statewide housing calculations issued by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs under the Fair Housing Act. . .
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