Are ‘accessory dwellings’ an answer to NJ’s housing crisis? Lawmakers hope so.

When the Avon-by-the-Sea, New Jersey home where Brian Staub’s mother lived alone became more than she needed in 1998, Brian bought it from her and moved in. His mother didn’t go far — she moved into the garage apartment out back.

“And the beauty of it is I was able to kind of keep an eye on my mom and she was able to continue to stay in Avon near the shore,” Staub said.

Many homes in Avon have garage apartments like theirs. And while their mother still owned the main house, Staub and his brothers would spend some summers staying in the apartment. The family rented it out in other years.

The borough passed a law about 20 years ago that bans new garage apartments, though it allows for improvements to already-existing ones.

“I think they were concerned maybe about overpopulation,” Staub said. “But I think that should change because it’s such a nice feature to be able to have the older generation in the back and keep the family together.”

Many New Jersey towns entirely bar these “accessory dwelling units,” or ADUs — secondary apartments that are on the same lot as a main home, sometimes attached to the house. Other towns allow them, but only if the occupant is related to the main home’s residents, or older than a certain age. But new proposed state legislation would require all towns statewide to allow ADUs, and would bar many of the types of restrictions that towns impose.

Some community leaders see it as an opportunity to make more cost-effective housing available, including for seniors being priced out of communities by the state’s notoriously high property taxes. But it’s seeing opposition from the League of Municipalities that advocates for local officials’ interests across the state. The league argues it takes too much power away from local governments, and calls…