By Sunayana Prabhu
LITTLE SILVER – The borough recently adopted a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan, joining a record-setting wave of municipalities this year complying with the state’s affordable housing mandates during the decade-long fourth round planning cycle.
At a special planning board meeting in June, borough officials unanimously approved their fourth- round housing plan, which includes 25 new units to be constructed to fulfill the borough’s affordable housing obligations that officially began July 1 and will last through 2035.
Presenting an overview during the special meeting June 12, the borough’s planner, Beth McManus, explained the two types of obligations that municipalities must satisfy. The first one is the rehabilitation obligation, which is an estimate of low- and moderate-income homes in the community that need to be repaired or renovated to code. The second one is a new-constrution obligation.
In New Jersey, the obligations for every municipality are recalculated every 10 years in cycles known as roundsm stemming from the Mount Laurel doctrine, a 1970s state Supreme Court ruling that aims to provide housing opportunities for all. Obligations are calculated based on factors in various regions of the state, such as job growth, existing affordability and the growth of low- and moderate-income households, which determine an individualized requirement for affordable housing.
For the fourth round, Little Silver’s state-mandated obligation for new construction stood at 98 units. The approved plan strategically reduced that number to 25 units through a “vacant land adjustment,” McManus said, a number that is consistent with developable land available within the borough.
The 25 units that will be built in the next 10 years “is our RDP, our Realistic Development Potential,” McManus explained. The difference between the RDP and the total obligation of 98 units is classified as the borough’s “unmet need,” which stands at 73 affordable units.
Projects that will generate the 25 new units include eight units from the Carriage Gate project, six to seven townhomes through Habitat for Humanity at 43 Birch Ave., four accessory apartments, and three units at One Sycamore Ave.
To address the unmet need, the municipality has identified overlay zoning along White Road, which allows for higher-density development with a 20% affordable housing set- aside. This will create opportunities for inclusionary development in the future. “You certainly do not have to meet the entire obligation. There’s no expectation of that being possible,” McManus clarified.
The rehabilitation obligation is calculated by the state based on the number of low- and moderate-income households residing in substandard units, as determined by census data. For Little Silver, that number was identified as zero and so the borough’s housing plan was not required to address that figure.
McManus further explained the importance of adopting a housing plan. Foremost, she said, every municipality in New Jersey has a constitutional obligation to provide opportunities for affordable housing. Secondly, in addition to having the obligation, one of the primary reasons municipalities choose to comply is because it gives them protection from builder’s remedy lawsuits, a type of litigation that can be “particularly damaging to a municipality’s land use and zoning policies where a developer is able to achieve higher density housing through the court system, as opposed to through rezoning, use variance, etc. – decision-making that lies at the municipal level,” McManus noted. Adopting a housing plan in compliance with state mandates protects Little Silver from builder’s remedy lawsuits through 2035. “Maintaining that protection is really critical to maintaining our control over zoning and land use decisions,” McManus told the board.
A Statewide Shift
Little Silver’s action mirrors a broader shift happening statewide. As of July 10, 424 of the 564 municipalities in New Jersey have adopted and filed Housing Element and Fair Share Plans.
According to an analysis by the nonprofit Fair Share Housing Center (FSHC), those 424 municipalities represent a 25% increase in municipal participation compared to the previous decade or the third-round cycle that began in 2015.
“This shows the new law is working – cutting red tape, lowering costs, and getting more towns involved,” said Adam Gordon, executive director of FSHC, in a press release.
The increase in participation fol- lows the passage of landmark affordable housing legislation signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in March 2024. The new law codifies a more predictable and efficient process for calculating and fulfilling affordable housing obligations and has been credited with dramatically reducing the litigation that plagued the previous cycle.
“When I signed A4/S50, I did so to honor the promise of the Mount Laurel Doctrine and ensure that more hardworking families have access to a quality, affordable place to call home,” Murphy said in a statement.
Ninety four percent of the 452 towns that opted into the fourth-round process have submitted plans on time. Municipalities now face an Aug. 31 deadline for any legal challenges that may arise to dispute housing plans, followed by a Dec. 31 deadline to resolve those disputes and a final March 15, 2026, deadline to adopt revised zoning, if necessary.
Funding Concerns Persist
Despite the surge in local participation, housing advocates have raised alarms about dwindling resources. The FSHC has criticized the state for reducing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in its 2025 budget.
“Slashing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is crucial to mitigating the harms of the ongoing housing affordability crisis, is a big mistake,” said Al-Tariq Witcher, FSHC’s managing director of external affairs, in a statement. “This fund is often the only source of funds for smaller developments which do not qualify for federal funding.”
Still, advocates have expressed optimism about pending legislation that would authorize $100 million annually in tax credits through the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency to support affordable housing development.
“The shortage of affordable hous- ing in New Jersey hurts everyone, especially low-income families and people of color,” Witcher said. “While the state’s new affordable housing law has been a major step forward, much more needs to be done.”
According to the data presented by the FSHC, since the Mount Laurel Doctrine took effect 50 years ago, more than 75,000 affordable homes have been built in New Jersey, including over 25,000 since 2015. More than 400,000 residents now live in homes created through this landmark legal framework.
The article originally appeared in the July 31 – August 6, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.