WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. – In a special online meeting held Jan. 29, the Readington Township Committee passed its response to the fourth round affordable housing obligations assessed on the municipality by the state, officially contesting the numbers.
“The state’s new round four quota of 561 units is completely unreasonable,” said Readington Mayor Adam Mueller, who is the committee’s representative to the local affordable housing committee. “This mandate disregards our town’s character, infrastructure and the interests of our residents.”
The alternate plan offered by the committee amounts to a little more than half – 56% – of the estimate levied by the state, with a prospective need obligation of 315 units and a present need of 50 units, as opposed to the state’s figures of 561 and 45, respectively. The N.J. Department of Community Affairs estimates place an obligation on local governments to create the conditions that would allow that number of low- or moderate-income homes to be created, and required each municipality to either accept the estimate or file an alternate plan by the end of January 2025.
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“Prospective need” refers to the expected need for affordable housing in the decade starting this year, while “present need” is intended to describe the current lacking in affordable units or need for existing substandard affordable housing to be fixed up when the study was released in 2024.
The resolution, which passed unanimously with all committee members on the electronic Zoom call, also directed the township’s affordable housing attorney to file for declaratory judgement before the courts that would put its alternate plan into effect, and indicated the township reserved rights to adjust the numbers based on “windshield survey, lack of land, sewer, water, regional planning inputs or any combination thereof.”
Mueller called the housing mandates “reckless” and “out of touch,” saying they showed no regard for local communities, and vowed to fight for what he considered responsible planning.
Last December, the township passed a resolution expressing support for a multi-municipality lawsuit to amend the state’s affordable housing law, with Mueller then saying the effort might reduce the community’s fair share housing responsibility by two thirds. That legal action is being pursued by members of the New Jersey Institute of Local Government Attorneys on behalf of local governments across the state, and is separate from the township’s individual response.
Readington Township, a regional leader in both publicly owned open space and privately held green spaces, was assessed by far the largest share of affordable housing obligation in Hunterdon County. The next highest obligation was that of Raritan Township, which contested its prospective need assessment of 336 and filed an alternate plan agreeing to work toward creating the conditions to allow 229 units of affordable housing to be created within its borders.
New Jersey’s current affordable housing mandates are a result of a 1975 ruling on a lawsuit by the Southern Burlington NAACP against the township of Mount Laurel. The New Jersey Supreme Court’s decision made exclusionary zoning illegal and required each municipality in the state to provide for affordable housing.
Subsequent cases and laws have upheld the principle that affordable housing is the responsibility of all municipalities in New Jersey.