Some local leaders are railing against new calculations that could determine their affordable housing obligations for the next decade. (Courtesy of the Department of Community Affairs)
Newly released non-binding calculations to determine towns’ affordable housing obligations have renewed resistance to what some local officials called an impractical and contradictory mandate to construct more units for New Jersey’s low- and moderate-income residents.
Statewide, the figures released last week by the Department of Community Affairs call for the construction of 80,798 new affordable units over the next 10 years, adding to the 65,410 unconstructed residences left over from previous decade-long rounds of affordable housing.
“I think these numbers are made up in a vacuum with unrealistic expectations,” said Tony Perry, the Republican mayor of Middletown, a suburban Monmouth County township of about 67,000 residents that has long railed against its affordable housing responsibilities.
The calculations are the result of a law enacted this March that codified the Mount Laurel Doctrine, a judicial finding that says the state’s constitution requires New Jersey municipalities’ zoning laws provide a practical opportunity for the construction of low- and moderate-income housing.
Though the law allows local officials to set their own binding affordable housing obligations, the state’s calculations have redoubled resistance to new construction from municipalities that warn the figures vastly understate the scale of new development and overestimate development opportunities.
But affordable housing advocates say the resistance is the latest instance of opposition from towns that have sought to avoid building affordable units for years or even decades.
“At the end of the day, they don’t want to build any affordable housing of any significance within their borders. In many cases, any housing at all,” said Adam Gordon, executive director of the Fair Share Housing Center. “I think that a lot of it is the same towns that you see over and over again that said they were opposed to the law.”
Because few 100% affordable housing developments are financially viable, many development projects set aside only 20% of their units for low- and moderate-income residents, with the remainder sold or rented at market rates.
Officials said that reality means the state’s calculations undersell how much new development would be required to meet the state’s affordable housing needs.
Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)
“You look at those numbers in isolation and it looks like, well, of course we want to make sure that 40 people or 140 people, depending on the size of the town have access to affordable housing,” said Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn (R-Monmouth). “The reality is those numbers need to be multiplied to support the housing development.”
The bill’s supporters said even developments with a relatively small share of affordable units could help curtail New Jersey’s long-standing housing shortage.
“When you’re saying, ‘Oh, we don’t want that mixed-income housing,’ what you’re basically saying is the middle class don’t need a place to live,” Gordon said.
Others have criticized state officials for what they called a failure to consider how much developable land exists in some municipalities.
Flynn pointed to Monmouth Beach, a wealthy shore town that has just over 1 square mile of terrestrial land within its borders and a population of roughly 3,200. The state says the town has a prospective need of 47 units of affordable housing — one Flynn said the town has no space to fill.
“The rest of the town is developed. There’s not a blade of grass or a piece of sand that’s left to be developed in that town, but they have now an affordable housing obligation. What are they supposed to do, knock down houses that exist?” she said.
Gordon noted affordable housing laws allow municipalities to apply for adjustments to their obligations and to fill their quotas for affordable units in ways other than new construction, like extending existing affordability controls or erecting affordable units dedicated to seniors or residents with certain disabilities, among numerous others.
“If you genuinely don’t have enough land — and keep in mind you have to consider opportunities for redevelopment — then there’s a process to adjust those numbers on a municipal basis,” he said. “Many towns take advantage of it. Monmouth Beach did that last time. We agreed with that. The court approved it, and I would be shocked if anything different happened this time.”
Monmouth Beach Mayor David Stickle said the town is already struggling to fill its seven-unit obligation from the previous affordable housing round because of space constraints. The borough had weighed adding residential units above its limited retail spaces, he said, but even that plan might be waylaid by proposed environmental regulations that would limit development in flood-prone areas.
The calculations’ release could redouble legal efforts to see the new affordable housing law undone. A growing coalition of towns that is led by Montvale and now includes 21 municipalities last month sued the state, arguing the new law is unconstitutional. Assemblyman Gerry Scharfenberger (R-Monmouth) said 10 other towns intend to join that suit.
The plaintiffs allege the state improperly vested rulemaking powers within the judiciary, hoisted an unconstitutional unfunded mandate onto towns through new legal expenses, and afforded the judiciary appointment powers that ought to have been reserved for the elected branches of government, among other things.
The state has not yet replied to the lawsuit and last week requested more time to draft a response. Gordon said the Fair Share Housing Center is likely to join that litigation, though the exact nature of its intervention has yet to be determined.
Gordon called the plaintiffs’ arguments “not coherent.”
“What they’re basically saying, what it comes down to, is they wanted the Legislature to change the law, but they don’t like the choices the Legislature made in changing the law,” he said.
The law could face simultaneous assaults from other suits. For instance, Middletown is leveraging similar arguments to challenge the law as it defends itself from builder’s remedy lawsuits alleging the township’s zoning laws failed to provide a realistic opportunity for affordable housing.
Sen. Troy Singleton (D-Burlington), who sponsored the affordable housing legislation signed in March, criticized the Montvale lawsuit when it was filed.
“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,” Singleton said last month.
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