At a community forum in 2023, Jim Kyle, a municipal planner, approached the dais and spoke about focusing “more density in town and near public transit.” Kyle was working with the city to redevelop land in the town’s Western Section, a wealthy, tree-lined neighborhood of Tudor and Colonial homes near downtown.
All 564 New Jersey municipalities this week faced a deadline to comply with the state’s affordable housing law. That means they had to adopt ordinances stating how they’ll plan for such residences over the next decade. It’s been a contentious journey. Several towns are still not on board, even as housing advocates say the state needs more than 200,000 new units to help address the affordability crisis.
A North Jersey town is facing a legal challenge over a plan that could allow a massive data center to be built on a 34-acre site instead of affordable housing.
New Jersey’s statewide battle over growth, rooted in a once loosely enforced 1970s law against racial segregation, has turned “vicious” in Princeton.
New Jersey has some of the most expensive homes in the nation. A 2024 law that takes effect today attempts to make the Garden State affordable for homebuyers. It requires all municipalities to complete and submit an affordable housing plan and to pass any necessary ordinances to implement it, no later than today.
Affordable housing is about to get a jolt in New Jersey as towns begin implementing the plans they have been scrambling to design and get okayed in order to meet a March 15 legislative deadline. The timeline was established by a critical law passed in 2024 which for the first time set into the legal statutes the rules determining how much affordable housing must be built by towns.
One month into Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration, New Jersey stands at a pivotal moment on housing — with a strong framework in place and a clear opportunity to build on it.
Garden State residents spend more than 30% of their income on housing. The newly elected governor wants to make the state more affordable.
