New Jersey Affordable Housing Law Turns 50

New Jersey’s Mount Laurel Doctrine, enacted 50 years ago, mandates that each municipality accommodate enough affordable housing to meet local needs. But as Michael L. Diamond explains in an article for Asbury Park Press, the law, which has led to the creation of 400,000 new housing units, still faces significant opposition from some local leaders. Some suburban towns argue that the quotas set by the state are unfair or arbitrary.

Governor Phil Murphy blamed this pushback for the insufficient housing supply, saying at an event commemorating the doctrine, “In New Jersey, we have wrestled with how to apply the principles of the Mount Laurel doctrine in practice, and along the way we've seen a slew of legal challenges that have sought to delay the development of new affordable housing units in the communities where they are needed most.”

The Mount Laurel Doctrine is the result of a 1970s lawsuit filed by Black residents against the city that made its way to the U.S Supreme Court, where the court ruled that “not only did Mount Laurel have an obligation to provide affordable housing, but also so did every other municipality.”