Fifteen of Cape May County’s 16 municipalities have accepted the state’s calculated number for their current and future affordable housing obligations.
Based on a December report from the state Department of Community Affairs, the county has an obligation for a total of current and prospective affordable housing of 992 living units as its towns prepare for the start of the fourth round of such obligations July 1.
Of the 992 total, 431 are remaining present-need obligations left over from earlier rounds of the state’s affordable housing process. The prospective need, 561 housing units, is for the fourth round, which runs from July 1 to June 30, 2034.
In March 2024 Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation revitalizing the affordable housing statutes in New Jersey. The new legislation changed the process that municipalities must use to plan for meeting their constitutionally mandated affordable housing obligations.
New Jersey is one of the few states to recognize access to affordable housing as a state constitutional right and not just a matter of statute. The state Supreme Court established this right in a series of decisions beginning in 1975 that have become known as the Mount Laurel Doctrine.
The Mount Laurel Doctrine requires that all municipalities provide their fair share of such housing based on calculations tied to specific variables defined by the courts. It also requires that communities remove zoning laws that help to exclude affordable housing, while allowing zoning that provides a realistic opportunity for such housing.
With the signing of the legislation in March, the Department of Community Affairs was charged with calculating statewide and regional affordable housing needs, as well as municipal obligations for the 564 municipalities in the state.
The law permitted municipalities to accept the DCA’s calculation of their fair share obligation or to adopt their own, using the methodology outlined within the law, before Jan. 31, 2025. Interested parties have until Feb. 28 to challenge any municipal decisions.
For purposes of calculating regional need, the state is divided into six regions, with Cape May County in the sixth region, composed of the four southern counties of Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May. The region, according to the DCA numbers, has a total need for 5,290 units, of which 3,401 are present need and 1,889 are prospective. Those numbers leave Cape May County with 30% of the sixth region’s prospective need.
In the county, five of the 16 municipalities account for two-thirds of the total of 992 present and prospective needs. They are Ocean City, with 228, Middle Township, with 132, Lower Township, with 131, Cape May City, with 94, and Wildwood, with 63.
It could not be immediately determined whether Dennis Township’s governing body has taken action on its DCA-calculated prospective need of 33 living units. Attempts to learn the township’s position received no reply.
If an interested party wishes to challenge a municipality’s housing obligation decision, it has until Feb. 28 to do so. All challenges are to be resolved by the newly created Dispute Resolution Program.
The next step is for municipalities to develop Fair Share Housing Plans dealing with how they are going to create a reasonable opportunity for their obligations to be met. That plan is due by June 30. It is the framework around which the municipality will later craft its ordinances for implementing the plan.
Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
