After almost a decade of uncertainty in the affordable housing field, a five-member Supreme Court invalidated the third-round affordable housing regulations adopted by the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) and ordered COAH to develop new regulations within five months of their Sept. 26 ruling. In the Matter of the Adoption of N.J. A.C. 5:96 and 5:97 by the New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 215 N.J. 578 (2013). In doing so, the 3-2 majority directed that COAH follow the methodology utilized in the first- and second-round affordable housing regulations and not the growth-share approach which underlaid the third-round regulations. Although the third-round regulations had been refined in a total of three iterations, their underpinning remained a growth-share model, which was stricken by the Supreme Court as being inconsistent with the Fair Housing Act of 1985 (N.J.S.A. 52:27D-301) (FHA) and thus ultra vires.

Despite this definitive ruling, it is likely that controversy will continue to surround affordable housing in this state because the Supreme Court, in finding the regulations inconsistent with the current FHA, left a wide-open door for the legislature to modify the current FHA in a way that could support a growth-share model. The question at this time remains whether the legislature will do so.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]