Jean Mikle, and Russ Zimmer

Asbury Park Press

A housing advocacy group says "tens of thousands" of new units of affordable housing could be built in New Jersey as a result of a state Supreme Court decision Wednesday.

In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that municipalities must meet affordable housing needs that accumulated during the so-called "gap period" between 1999 and 2015, when the state's Council on Affordable Housing failed to produce housing quotas for towns.

The ruling could have a dramatic impact on Monmouth County, where several affluent towns have fought increased affordable housing obligations. By contrast, most of Ocean County's most populous towns won't be affected because they have already agreed to court settlements providing thousands of affordable homes.

The municipalities fighting the increased quotas argued in court that they should not be compelled to satisfy this backlog because they were not given any direction at the time by the state.

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Housing advocates, including representatives of the group Fair Share Housing, have contended that towns have a constitutional duty to provide opportunities for the people whose right to affordable housing was ignored for those 16 years. It believes the decision will lead to construction of “tens of thousands” of new affordable housing..

"As to the fundamental disagreement — whether the gap period must be addressed — we waste no time in settling that issue," the opinion reads. "There is no fair reading of this Court’s prior decisions that supports disregarding the constitutional obligation to address pent-up affordable housing need for low- and moderate income households that formed during the years in which COAH was unable to promulgate valid Third Round rules."

The court's decision was hailed by housing advocates, including The Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit group that has fought to increase affordable housing quotas. The group said the Supreme Court ruling is "an important victory for tens of thousands of New Jersey families," and a rejection of towns' efforts to "exclude these families."

“This ruling is a victory for lower-income and minority families across New Jersey,” said Colandus “Kelly” Francis, chairman of the Board of Directors of Fair Share Housing Center and vice president of the Camden County Branch of the NAACP.

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“This ruling means that thousands of lower-income and minority families will be given the opportunity to live in safe neighborhoods, send their children to good schools, and work at jobs where they live instead of traveling hours commuting each day," Francis said. "We fight to end discrimination in housing and zoning because the exclusion of so many harms our whole state, especially African American and Latino communities.”

But Michael Cerra, assistant executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, said the ruling "poses more questions than it answers."

Cerra said that while the court mandated that towns provide affordable housing for the gap period, it also called for an expanded analysis to determine the amount of units needed.

"The reads like a compromise among the justices, and compromises are imperfect," Cerra said. "When this returns to the trial court level and an attempt to determine what this number is, it’s going to become a battle of the experts, it’s going to become very expensive."

Towns will have to hire experts and attorneys to argue their case in court, he said.

The legal debate decided by the Supreme Court centered around a disagreement on affordable housing commitments that had amassed during the so-called "gap period" between between 1999 and 2015. The state's Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) failed to produce housing quotas for towns beginning in 1999.

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The ruling is a blow to nearly 300 municipalities whose representatives had argued in court that the state's Fair Housing Act did not require towns to provide a specific amount of affordable housing during the gap period.

Fair Share Housing has argued that there's a need for 200,000 units of affordable housing in New Jersey through 2025.

Anthony Campisi, a spokesman for the advocacy group, noted that it's unlikely that number of affordable units will be available by that date. The group, however, wants towns to have appropriate zoning in place that permits the development of affordable housing so it can be built "when there is market demand."

He said the group believes the court decision clears the way for tens of thousands of homes to be built and will spur towns to reach settlements — over how many units to build —similar to the agreements completed late last year in 13 Ocean County towns. Those settlements cover the years from 1999 through 2025.

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The ruling is an affirmation of a July 2016 appellate court decision that was praised by towns. However, the justices, in a unanimous opinion, modified the earlier decision to make it clear that just because the COAH went quiet does not mean that the need for affordable housing disappeared.

This ruling has no effect on the towns that have already come to legal agreements with the Fair Share Housing Center on housing obligations, since the "gap period" is included in the settlements that were reached.

More than 90 towns across New Jersey — including Mount Laurel, Cherry Hill, Woodbridge, Toms River, Edison, Bridgewater — have reached agreements with advocates, non-profits and developers establishing obligations of more than 30,000 homes, according to Fair Share Housing spokesman Campisi.

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Those agreements provide for as follows:

• Stafford: 792 units

• Pine Beach: 123 units

• Toms River: 1,285 units

• Berkeley: 0 units

• Jackson: 1,250 units

• Little Egg Harbor: 634 units

• Ocean: 322 units

• Point Pleasant: 436 units

• Lacey: 581 units

• Beach Haven: 118 units

Barnegat has partially settled, agreeing to build 121 units before 2025. Meanwhile, Neptune (203 units) is the only municipality in Monmouth County that has negotiated an agreement.

Toms River's settlement was approved by Ocean County Superior Court Judge Mark A. Troncone in December, but five Township Council members issued a blistering press release following the court hearing in which they bashed the "out-of-touch" state Supreme Court, "liberal Trenton politicians" and bureaucrats for imposing affordable housing mandates that the councilmen contend lead to higher property taxes, overcrowded schools and "overstressed municipal services."

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The Supreme Court's decision may not be the final word on affordable housing numbers. On the last page of the decision, the court notes that the state Legislature could become involved in the process.

"The Legislature is not foreclosed from considering alternative methods for calculating and assigning a municipal fair share of affordable housing, and to that end, we welcome legislative attention to this important social and economic constitutional matter," the opinion states.

Cerra said the state's municipalities would welcome the Legislature's involvement.

"That really demands that the legislature and the administration partner and advance a cure and reforms to enact a rational policy that towns can follow," he said.

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Assemblyman Dave Rible, the second-highest ranking Republican in the caucus, pilloried the decision in a statement released this afternoon.

“Once again the Supreme Court has legislated from the bench to require towns to comply with unreasonable affordable housing mandates that will devastate the quality of life of communities throughout New Jersey," said Rible, who represents southern Monmouth and Ocean counties. “Forcing municipalities to comply with unmet affordable housing requirements from more than a decade ago will have a disastrous effect on many towns in Monmouth County. Many municipalities will now be on the hook for hundreds of additional affordable housing units."

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com