North Jersey Mayors Clash With Advocates Over Affordable Housing

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — For decades, New Jersey has struggled to enforce laws that ensure that new developments in each town contribute to the affordable housing stock.

The efforts date back to a series of court cases in the 1980s.

But attempts to provide affordable housing in every town have met with lawsuits and delays.

On Monday, the town of Montvale — snuggled up against the New York State line in Bergen County — and eight other towns filed a lawsuit against the state, seeking to overturn the newest affordable housing law.

The towns include Denville, Florham Park, Hillsdale, Mannington, Millburn, Montvale, Montville, Old Tappan, and Totowa.

An activist group has pushed back, saying the "Lawsuit filed by ultra-wealthy, predominantly white towns is [a] smokescreen to block much-needed affordable housing."

The Fair Share Housing Center’s executive director, Adam Gordon, said in a release on Monday, “New Jersey has a shortage of over 200,000 affordable housing units and there are 14 prospective renters for each vacant apartment. A delay of three years or more of building affordable housing, as Mayor Ghassali [of Montvale] has proposed, would harm families, people with disabilities, and seniors struggling with record-high rents and home prices."

He added, “It’s purely a smokescreen to undermine and delay the implementation of New Jersey’s landmark new affordable housing law (S50/A4). This lawsuit is nothing new — it’s supported by many of the same ultra-wealthy communities who have fought affordable housing for decades."

“New Jersey law gives towns a wide variety of tools to create affordable housing in the way they prefer ... We look forward to working with towns that want to implement this new law and create much-needed affordable homes.”

The law was passed last year. It gives the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs the authority to run the development of affordable
housing in the state – and determine how many units every town and city must build over the next decade.

Towns and cities are expected to get their new quotas in October. They’ll have to come up with a plan and get it approved by state officials by next summer.

This week’s lawsuit – filed under the banner of the “Local Leaders for Responsible Planning” coalition – challenges the law.

Ghassali, who is spearheading the effort, said it’s not fair for towns like those in the lawsuit to be forced to support the housing needs of other municipalities, which are often significantly bigger.

The coalition called out 62 “urban aid municipalities” for “unfairly”imposing their housing needs on their neighboring towns and cities.

The lawsuit also challenges the dispute process laid out in the law, which the coalition alleges will take the decisions about housing policies out
of the hands of local elected officials.

“We all want safe, welcoming, and vibrant neighborhoods, but the new Fourth Round mandates from Trenton go too far and will place unnecessarystrain on our towns without providing any resources to make it work,” Ghassali said.

“Our priority is to fight so that local elected officials have the power to ensure our towns grow in a responsible manner, which this law
prevents,” he added.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka rejected this stance on Tuesday.

“New Jersey’s housing market is short 200,000 affordable units, at least, said Baraka, who is one of several Democratic candidates running for governor in 2025.

Delays In Other North Jersey Towns

Many other towns have seen lawsuits delay implementations of affordable housing, including in Hoboken and Millburn.

In Hoboken recently, one developer fought against a mandate to provide 14 affordable units in their luxury building, and will now get to build larger than before, according to NJ.com.

READ MORE: NJ Advocates Defend State's Affordable Housing Rules Amid Lawsuit

Patch Editor Eric Kiefer contributed to this story.