Four-minute read

With legal challenges to New Jersey’s affordable housing law denied, Monmouth and Ocean County towns reached a deadline Friday to opt into a program that spells out their affordable housing obligations for the next decade.

As the clock ticked on Thursday, about two-thirds of towns at the Shore had agreed to participate, even as some planned to challenge the number of affordable units determined by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

“It’s good to see that the vast majority of New Jersey municipalities, many of whom supported the law’s passage, are moving forward,” said Jag Davies, a spokesman for the Fair Share Housing Center, an advocacy group.

Friday’s deadline is part of the fourth round of the Mount Laurel doctrine that was set into motion last March, when Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law spelling out towns’ affordable housing obligations for the next decade.

See a full list of what the state says each town must allow to be built at the bottom of this story.

Residents asked to pitch ideas: Where should 101 affordable homes be built in Colts Neck?

Towns aren’t required to participate, but those that don’t adopt a plan risk being sued by builders and advocates, leaving them vulnerable to a court order mandating them to clear the way for higher-density projects.

The new rules are landing as policymakers at the Shore try to navigate competing interests: residents are pushing back against overdevelopment, all while seeing the price of housing soar.

A home is considered unaffordable if its payment takes up more than 30% of a household’s income. As of last August, a Monmouth County household with a median income would pay 53.9% for a median-priced home, while an Ocean County household would spend 58%, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. 

“The third round was kind of chaotic,” said Craig Gianetti, an attorney with Day Pitney in Parsippany, who co-leads the firms’ real estate, environmental and land use practice. “From 2018 to today, towns had to do a lot (to catch up with affordable housing obligations), and I think they are still kind of, for lack of a better term, licking their wounds politically.”

“The thought of having to go through this process again, where they feel like they just completed the third round, is probably daunting for them,” he said.

Home prices: Monmouth County average home price second highest in NJ

Home prices: Ocean County average home price has shot up 57% since COVID

The new law sets out to streamline what has been an uneven rollout of the Mount Laurel doctrine, the state’s constitutional mandate that requires towns to provide their fair share of affordable housing.

Under state law, municipalities are required to set aside 20% of housing units for those with moderate and low incomes — up to $72,830 for an individual and $130,054 for a family of four in Monmouth and Ocean counties.

The state recalculates municipal obligations every 10 years, looking at factors such as job growth, existing affordability and the growth of low- and moderate-income households. The new formula is set to last until 2035.

Some two dozen New Jersey towns, including Holmdel and Wall, filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the rollout, but state Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy ruled against them, leaving municipalities with a Jan. 31 deadline: Accept the state’s obligation, come up with their own and hope the state will approve it, or take their chances and risk being sued by builders or advocates.

Most Monmouth and Ocean County towns have approved resolutions and agreed to participate in the program, although some are planning to challenge the state’s formula.

Toms River, for example, required by the state to provide 670 affordable units, adopted a resolution saying it owes at most 114 new units, and possibly none at all.

Jackson, meanwhile, is faced with an obligation of 954 units in the next round. The council planned to vote Thursday on a resolution that would support 750 units.

“We’re trying to do everything the right way, we just feel now it’s becoming a little unfair,” Jackson Mayor Michael Reina said.

Jackson homes: Adventure Crossing developer still planning on 1,200 homes amid feud with Jackson council

The state could sign off on towns’ alternate calculations. Or it could contest them by taking it to the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, a seven-member panel appointed by the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, which would decide.

Opponents have until Feb. 28 to contest the municipalities’ calculations. And towns have until June 30 to adopt an affordable housing plan.

Davies from the Fair Share Housing Center said as of Thursday morning, 354 of the state’s 564 municipalities had adopted resolutions agreeing to participate in the affordable housing program, and 75% accepted the obligations calculated by the state.

“New Jersey municipalities, many of whom supported the law’s passage, are moving forward,” Davies said.

What’s going on? New Jersey leads Northeast in population growth and is bigger than ever. Here’s why.

Michael L. Diamond is a business writer for the Asbury Park Press. He has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry since 1999. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.