A New Jersey federal judge struck down a lawsuit brought by officials from 27 wealthy Garden State towns seeking to delay the implementation of the state’s 2024 affordable housing law.
U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi said the local officials lacked standing to bring a constitutional challenge to the long-standing state requirement that each municipality develop housing priced for lower- and middle-income residents. Quraishi also ruled that even if he were to strike down the 2024 law, the towns’ obligations would still exist under 50 years of NJ state Supreme Court rulings.
“Even if the 2024 [law] was invalidated by the court, the municipalities would still need to expend taxpayer dollars to comply with their Mount Laurel obligations,” the judge wrote. “Such expenditures would necessarily include costs for infrastructure, services and affordable housing developments.”
Mike Ghassali, the mayor of Montvale in Bergen County, led the group of officials suing the state’s attorney general in the case. He vowed to appeal Quraishi’s decision.
“We are disappointed the district court refused to consider our meritorious challenge to Mount Laurel by claiming its mandates do not harm taxpayers and elected officials,” Ghassali wrote on Facebook Tuesday. “We look forward to bringing this to the Third Circuit of Appeals.”
Then-Gov. Phil Murphy signed the framework for the latest round of requirements for low- and middle-income housing into law in 2024. The law stemmed from the state’s 50-year-old Mount Laurel doctrine, a series of state Supreme Court decisions that have repeatedly determined that, under the state constitution, every municipality in New Jersey must contribute its “fair share” of affordable housing.
Quraishi’s ruling this week follows a litany of rejected requests by the same group of towns over the last year asking the NJ state courts to stay the implementation of the new law while their lawsuit played out.
The latest round of Mount Laurel affordable housing development began in July of last year. State officials have set a goal of building roughly 80,000 new low-priced homes over the next decade. On average, towns are being asked to generate about 150 new affordable housing units, though some towns are required to do more.
Housing advocates in the state celebrated the federal judge’s decision Tuesday.
“The courts have been crystal clear — New Jersey’s affordable housing law is here to stay,” said Adam Gordon, executive director at Fair Share Housing Center, which argued against the towns’ request in federal and state court. “Now that the federal court has rejected these claims in full, it’s time to move forward — as the overwhelming majority of municipalities already are — by producing the affordable homes New Jersey desperately needs.”
Last month, Fair Share Housing Center announced that a record 380 towns around the state had developed plans to comply with their Mount Laurel obligations over the next decade.
Now that their lawsuit has been dismissed, the towns will have until March 16 to file revised housing plans or run the risk of opening themselves up to lawsuits from builders and developers seeking to force the development of affordable housing in their towns.
