The law is intended to implement the Mount Laurel doctrine, constitutional case law that requires municipalities to provide realistic opportunities for the creation of low- and moderate-income affordable housing. (Photo by New Jersey Monitor)
Nine municipalities sued the state Monday in a bid to overturn a new law passed last spring to overhaul New Jersey’s affordable housing system.
The law, which Gov. Phil Murphy signed in March, is an unconstitutional, unfunded local mandate that enabled state legislators to “shirk political accountability” for ensuring the state’s 564 municipalities comply with their affordable housing obligations, attorney Michael L. Collins wrote in the lawsuit , which was filed in state Superior Court in Mercer County.
The law , which amended the 1985 Fair Housing Act, is intended to implement the Mount Laurel doctrine, constitutional case law that requires municipalities to provide realistic opportunities for the creation of low- and moderate-income affordable housing within their borders.
That doctrine stems from a 1983 ruling and its 1975 precedent, Collins noted in his complaint.
“Today’s circumstances are vastly different from 1983, and the Mount Laurel II judicial remedy — as reiterated through the Law — lacks continued vitality,” Collins wrote.
Unless a judge intervenes, Collins warned, “the Legislature may continue to take unbridled action in the affordable housing space under the guise of implementing the Mount Laurel doctrine.”
The lawsuit prompted immediate, fierce backlash from housing advocates and at least one legislator, bill sponsor Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Burlington). Singleton called the complaint a “politically driven, superfluous lawsuit” filed by “affluent suburban towns.”
“We are in a housing crisis and the numbers don’t lie. Home prices and rents are at an all-time high in New Jersey, and there isn’t nearly enough inventory to meet demand,” Singleton said in a statement. “Playing politics with people’s housing — a basic, human necessity — is simply shameful. Rather than waste time and taxpayer dollars on needless lawsuits, I would encourage these mayors to use our new law as a tool that can help them meet — not dodge — their long overdue affordable housing obligations.”
The plaintiffs are Montvale, Hillsdale, and Old Tappan in Bergen County; Denville, Florham Park, and Montville in Morris County; Millburn in Essex County; Totowa in Passaic County; and Mannington in Salem County.
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Adam Gordon, executive director of Fair Share Housing Center, called the complaint a “smokescreen” to undermine the new law and delay its implementation, possibly for years. That would hurt families, people with disabilities, and seniors who struggle to afford pricy rents and mortgages in a state that has 14 prospective renters for each vacant apartment and a shortage of more than 200,000 affordable housing units, Gordon warned.
He also noted that Montvale is “deeply unrepresentative of our state’s population,” with less than 2% Black population and an 8% Latino population.
“Not surprisingly, the small percentage of New Jersey municipalities that have signed on include many of the ultra-wealthy communities that have fought the hardest against affordable homes like Millburn,” Gordon said.
Asked to comment, Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali said it is “shameful” that the bill’s supporters are using race as an issue here.
“I am a first generation immigrant and started, like millions before me, from absolutely nothing, and enjoy where I live and how I live, isn’t that the American dream?” Ghassali said. “I wish the state and Fair Share Housing give that opportunity to others.”
The law at issue prompted lengthy, impassioned testimony from supporters and opponents alike as it made its way through committees earlier this legislative session. Then, critics complained that it would endanger green space and burden schools, utilities, and other municipal services, particularly in rural communities.
The law tasked the state Department of Community Affairs with making calculations to determine the affordable housing needs in six state regions. It set new safeguards to protect municipalities from exclusionary zoning lawsuits and created new bonus credits municipalities can use to reduce their affordable housing obligations.
It also officially abolished the defunct Council on Affordable Housing, which the courts had declared “moribund” in 2015, and created a court-run affordable housing dispute resolution program.
But Collins argued that the law is constitutionally prohibited special legislation because it exempts distressed urban municipalities, shifting affordable housing mandates instead to municipalities like those that sued.
Gordon, though, said that claim is “simply not true.”
“Since urban municipalities have historically produced far more affordable housing than suburban municipalities, their obligations (under the new law) primarily consist of rehabilitating existing housing — often running into thousands of affordable homes they have to rehabilitate,” Gordon said.
Collins also contends the law unconstitutionally moves determinations on affordable housing disputes from the old Council on Affordable Housing, which was under the executive branch, to “a so-called program” run by the judiciary.
He took aim, too, at how judges are appointed to that program. New Jersey’s chief justice has sole power under the state Constitution to assign judges, but this law requires Judge Glenn A. Grant, the acting administrative director of the courts, to appoint judges to the program, as well as experts if Superior Court judges are unavailable.
Collins called the law “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable” and wants a judge to bar its enforcement.
Besides the state itself, the lawsuit also names Grant and the courts’ affordable housing dispute resolution program as defendants.
Spokesmen for the courts and the governor’s office declined to comment.
Attorney General Matt Platkin called the lawsuit’s claims “baseless.”
“We are disappointed that a small group of towns are resisting New Jersey’s important new housing law, and we look forward to defending that law in court,” Platkin said in a statement.
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