NJ towns make drastic cuts to affordable housing construction — here’s how

🏠 New Jersey towns begrudgingly agree to affordable housing

🏠 Say the state overestimates how much available land they have

🏠 One town cut the amount by 34%, or nearly 200 units

HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP (Mercer) — New Jersey towns are complying with the state's affordable housing mandates but aren't racing to build more than they have to.

They say the obligations handed down by the state Department of Community Affairs were way too high.

“We strongly believe in the need for Affordable Housing in New Jersey, but part of that commitment is ensuring all calculations and underlying data are accurate and reflect the current realities in our Township,” Hopewell Township Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning said.

The committees for Hopewell Township and Holmdel separately voted last week to comply with the state's affordable housing orders.

Holmdel agreed on a prospective need for 98 units of affordable housing, the Asbury Park Press reported. It's a significant cut from the 133 units the state had wanted.

And Hopewell Township signed off on allowing 348 units of new housing within its borders over the next 10 years. But that's 195 fewer units than the DCA recommended — a reduction of around 34%.

The Department of Community Affairs declined to comment on Hopewell's obligations and independent calculations.

RELATED: Fury in NJ as state forces affordable housing construction

It will be up to the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program, which is overseen by the Administrative Office of the Courts, to decide if the towns are being . The program is made up of seven retired judges.

Not enough land for new homes?

Even though the towns voted separately, they came to the same conclusion: the DCA greatly overestimated how much land each town had available for development.

Holmdel only has 1.23 acres of land available for development, according to a planning memo released by the township.

Hopewell Township made a similar argument.

The DCA initially said that Hopewell had over 780 acres of developable land. However, a local engineer's review found there were actually less than 290 acres available, the township said.

"The DCA’s numbers are non-binding. If a municipality finds inaccuracies in the data, the governing body must demonstrate that a lower obligation is justified," the township said in a statement.

Hopewell Township was one of over 30 towns in New Jersey that the DCA said had a prospective need of over 500 units of affordable housing.

The other towns with the largest requirements from the DCA are listed below.

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