September 11, 2024

Millburn Seeks To Reverse Affordable Housing Law in New Jersey

By Maddy Grieco

Millburn is now the ninth town in New Jersey to try to retract New Jersey’s Affordable Housing law.

On Monday, September 9, Millburn and eight other towns, including Denville, Florham Park, Hillsdale, Mannigton, Montvale, Montville, Old Tappan and Totowa filed a lawsuit against the state of New Jersey, seeking to repeal the state law. The Affordable Housing law went into effect in 2023, requiring each town and city to construct a specified number of affordable housing units determined by the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs.

Several New Jersey towns have endorsed the law, mentioning the importance in providing equitable housing conditions for all state residents. Towns to support the state law include Newark in Essex County.

The Fair Share Housing Center expressed its disapproval of the lawsuit, calling it a “smokescreen” and predicting that the case would not be considered for court. Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali maintained his support of his town’s decision to file the lawsuit, citing the difficulties of accommodating other towns and municipalities that have larger populations.

Ghassali is the leader of the “Local Leaders for Responsible Planning” coalition, and together, the towns composed a list of 62 urban centers in the state that are “unfairly” asking neighboring towns for assistance. The lawsuit will also tackle concerns related to the dispute process that the law describes because it removes power from elected officials, as claimed by the members of the coalition.

More information regarding the lawsuit and potential court hearing will be released as officials discuss the implications of the towns’ efforts to reverse the Affordable Housing law.

About the Author

Maddy Grieco is a Intern for ONNJ, where she aids in the behind-the-scenes creation of the NJ Morning Show. She researches and writes the news stories that help bring the show together. In addition to writing, she also works to bolster the social media content for ONNJ, creating ideas to increase engagement on Instagram and TikTok.

She is a rising junior at Bucknell University, where she plans to graduate with a BA in English – Literary Studies. Following graduation, she seeks to enter the literary publishing world and further develop her analytical and editing skills.

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