Affordable housing agreement to bring hundreds of units

MOUNT LAUREL - The township where a major legal fight for affordable housing was born reached an agreement to create hundreds of affordable housing units.

The settlement with the Fair Share Housing Center gives the township credit for previously approved developments, slashing the number of required affordable housing units from 1,074 to 879. More than half of those will be deferred until the 2025-2035 compliance period under the agreement.

Some of the 879 units, to be completed in two phases, have already been built, township officials explained.

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About 85 towns across the state — including Medford, Cherry Hill, Winslow, Harrison, Maple Shade, Delanco, Edgewater Park, Willingboro and Florence, among others — have also reached settlements with the Cherry Hill-based nonprofit.

Mount Laurel Mayor Linda Bobo said in a statement that township officials “are pleased with the deal struck on behalf of the township. This provides the township certainty going forward and the ability to plan for the future.”

The debate over affordable housing stems from the Mount Laurel doctrine, a court ruling prohibiting municipalities from engaging in zoning practices that exclude low-income residents from attaining affordable homes.

In rulings in 1975 and 1983, the state Supreme Court “declared that municipal land use regulations that prevent affordable housing opportunities for the poor are unconstitutional,” according to the Fair Share Housing Center web site.

Municipalities had to provide a reasonable opportunity for the construction of homes affordable to low- and moderate-income families as well.

The late Ethel Lawrence, a Mount Laurel resident, who was a mother of nine, wife, church leader, community activist and day care teacher, was the lead plaintiff on the cases. A housing complex in Mount Laurel is named in her honor; she died in 1994.

The Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) was created to implement the Fair Housing Act, but in March of 2015 after years of stagnation, the state Supreme Court ordered municipalities to draft new affordable housing plans.

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According to a copy of Mount Laurel’s plan received by the Courier-Post, the affordable units will come in a variety of ways, including inclusionary developments, group homes, low-income rental homes and a market-to-affordable program, where market rate homes are purchased and then subsidized for low-income families.

Mount Laurel Township Council recently approved the settlement.

The Fair Share Housing Center agreed to the deferral of 492 units until the 2025-2035 phase as a compromise with Mount Laurel, according to a spokesman.

“We are pleased to have reached a historic settlement with Mount Laurel that will lead to the construction of hundreds of new homes for working families, seniors and those with disabilities,” said Anthony Campisi, Fair Share Housing Center spokesman. “… Both sides compromised to get shovels in the ground. We have reached settlements with more than 85 towns across the state recognizing a fair housing need of more than 30,000.

“This shows that a consensus is forming among municipalities that they can and should meet their constitutional obligations to expand opportunities for New Jersey families.”

Celeste E. Whittaker; (856) 486-2437; cwhittaker@gannettnj.com