the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Cranford NJ, A northern New Jersey lawmaker told local residents that leaving the fate of Mount Laurel, or “affordable,” housing in the hands of the court system could “crash the entire real estate market of the state of New Jersey.”
State Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi, a Republican who represents the 39th Legislative District, including parts of Bergen and Passaic counties, spoke at a town hall meeting March 5 about the need to halt any further affordable housing development before a statewide inventory of projects could be studied.
She was joined at the event at Union County College’s Roy Smith Theater by Jon Bramnick, the Assembly Republican minority leader who represents the 21st Legislative District, including Cranford.
Schepisi and Bramnick warned the 75 or so residents at the meeting that the state’s current approach to Mount Laurel housing could have widespread consequences.
“Because it is going through the courts, there is absolutely no statewide record as to what’s taking place. Nobody, including DCA, HMFA or any other government agency in the state of New Jersey right now knows how many projects in total have been approved simultaneously,” Schepisi said, referencing the Department of Community Affairs and the Housing Mortgage Finance Agency. “Nobody knows exactly how many units, what type of units, whether or not we’re going to crash the entire real estate market of the state of New Jersey. We need to stop this. We need to do an evaluation. We need to see what has been approved, what is coming down the pike and be able to make an informed determination as governmental officials as to what we need to do next.”