TRENTON, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — Nearly 450 towns in New Jersey are moving forward with the state’s recommendations for affordable housing construction established through laws passed last year, but dozens of municipalities still disagree with their assessments.
Joshua Bauers, a director with the Mount Laurel-based Fair Share Housing Center, said the courts could now come into play to quickly resolve the remaining disputes — some of which he said were legitimate, while others he called obstructionist.
“Of course there are towns that are just trying to exclude everything and claim that it’s not possible for them to do anything,” said Bauers. “The overarching issue is really one that’s about developable land.”
He said any disputes that aren’t ironed out in a mediation process will go to court. His organization, which works to support affordable housing development in New Jersey, produced a report analyzing the remaining complaints.
“We went through and tried to sort out which properties were there valid complaints about and which parcels there really weren’t valid complaints about,” he said.
As part of the report was also a model on how some fair share housing obligations can be allocated.
Some towns have said adding the number of housing units the state is recommending would overwhelm schools and local infrastructure.