I have been researching the NJ Affordable Housing program to find out who is behind it and what money is going where. For those unfamiliar with the program, it began in 1975 when the NJ Supreme Court sided with a developing in a lawsuit against the Township of Mt. Laurel NJ. The court ruled that towns could not use exclusionary zoning practices to prevent developers from building affordable housing and it required every town to allow a certain number of affordable homes to be decided by the state. NJ then codified this ruling into law and has added to it several times including a 2024 law requiring even more affordable homes to be built. Essentially, it removes the authority for planning from the towns and puts it in the hands of the state and developers. The states has basically outsourced the compliance function to a left wing organization called the Fair Share Housing Center. After researching this organization, an alleged non-profit, I found that not a single member of this organization has any background in planning and development. They have no expertise in town planning yet they are basically in charge of deciding if towns have done enough to build affordable housing. Frankly, I don't think they care what happens to the towns that are being overdeveloped. They don't care about the traffic congestion, overcrowding ins schools or any of the effects of overdevelopment. Their concern is left wing politics.
I grew up in the area where I live now and the development that has taken place has turned the small suburban towns into little cities. But you have to really understand how this works to see why it is probably totally corrupt. Towns cannot build little apartment buildings for affordable housing only. My town submitted a plan to build a small complex for wounded veterans and the elderly and was denied. Instead we have to let a developer build a massive apartment complex of mostly luxury units with a small percentage of affordable units mixed in. We have very little undeveloped land left in our town, which was once largely farmland and woods. The effects of this range from unbearable traffic to rabid animal attacks, coyotes and fox, on people walking their dogs. Deer roam the neighborhoods no longer afraid of people or cars. We have lots of car accidents involving deer. It is unsustainable. And the state leaves these problems to the towns to solve. The irony.
This is the result of absurd left wing policies. They destroy everything.
