New Jersey lawmakers have passed a sweeping overhaul of the state’s affordable housing system — one they hope will help develop some of the 200,000-plus homes advocates say are needed to serve low-income residents and families.
The state Senate passed the bill 21-14 on Monday. Lawmakers said it will overhaul New Jersey’s system for assigning affordable housing obligations to municipalities and holding them accountable for allowing development — giving shared regulatory responsibility to courts and state agencies.
It also formally abolishes New Jersey’s Council on Affordable Housing, which hasn’t met for years, and replaces a current system that sees towns negotiate affordable housing obligations with a court-assigned nonprofit.
Lawmakers said those negotiations are burdensome for towns, slow-moving and need to be changed before New Jersey assigns towns a new “round” of affordable obligations next year. They also said elements of the bill will encourage affordable homes to be built near resources people need, like transit stations and supermarkets.
The bill previously passed the state Assembly and Gov. Phil Murphy has indicated he will sign it into law.
The bill’s passage comes after a contentious few months of debate, with Democratic proponents and housing advocates for the bill on one side, and Republican legislators and some town officials on another. Opponents said they worried the bill could lead to sprawl and strip local community leaders of too much control.
One major point of contention was around the speed with which legislators in the Democratic majority were moving the bill through the process. The bill was initially introduced last December during the “lame duck period,” after elections are held but Legislators haven’t yet been sworn in. That version of the bill stalled, but a new one was quickly reintroduced early in the current legislative session.
“Today I’m grateful we’re collectively poised to take an important and indeed…
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