JULY 12, 2015, 10:09 PM LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JULY 12, 2015, 10:44 PM
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
In what some legal experts are calling a watershed moment in the decades-long battle over affordable housing in New Jersey, courts across the state are bracing for a potential onslaught of lawsuits from builders and property owners seeking to force municipalities to accept housing developments for low- and moderate-income residents.
For the first time in almost 30 years, builders can go directly to the courts, rather than a state agency long criticized as a bureaucratic black hole, to challenge local building restrictions if towns have not shown that they meet state quotas for affordable housing.
“It’s a very big deal,” said Lori Grifa, a Hackensack-based lawyer and former chairwoman of the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing. “The courts will be very busy this summer.”
The Christie administration in 2011 tried to disband the Council on Affordable Housing, which for decades oversaw how municipalities regulated low-income development, calling it ineffective. But in March, the state Supreme Court ruled that affordable housing must be regulated and put judges in charge of setting rules and giving guidance to towns on how many low-cost housing units they should build.
The ruling was delayed for 90 days to allow towns and housing developers, as well as the courts, time to set up a system to handle the potential litigation. It then provided towns a 30-day grace period — starting June 8 — to initiate claims showing that they already have enough affordable housing and should be considered immune from builders’ lawsuits.
After that, towns that have not filed anything with the courts could be sued.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-courts-brace-for-housing-lawsuits-1.1373088