A Middlesex County judge has issued guidelines that municipalities, developers and affordable housing advocates must follow when determining whether local governments are living up to their responsibilities to provide their constitutionally mandated share of low- and moderate-income homes.

Superior Court Judge Douglas Wolfson released the guidelines July 9 in a declaratory judgment action filed by Monroe Township, which is seeking to have its affordable housing plan declared compliant with the state Supreme Court's mandates in its decades-old series of Mount Laurel rulings.

The township's plans—which include two developments with 332 units of low- and moderate-income homes, plus an additional 61 rehabilitated existing units—is being challenged by a builder, Monroe 33 Developers and the Cherry Hill-based Fair Share Housing Center.