Have Mount Laurel Obligations Made New Jersey Housing More Affordable? A Synthetic Control Analysis of Housing Supply and Cost

Have Mount Laurel Obligations Made New Jersey Housing More Affordable? A Synthetic Control Analysis of Housing Supply and Cost

This paper investigates the effect of affordable housing obligations in New Jersey on cost of living, cost of housing, and actual housing production. New Jersey’s Mount Laurel court cases established a doctrine whereby municipalities must permit their “fair share” of affordably priced housing. At various points since then, the legislature has interpreted this doctrine with specific, quantitative targets for municipalities to reach, or it has dec…

Study finds Mount Laurel affordable housing mandates have had little impact on costs and production in N.J.

Five decades after a state Supreme Court ruling required municipalities to exercise their zoning powers to provide for housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households, a new study has found that the mandates from the so-called Mount Laurel decision have largely failed to increase housing production or reduce housing costs. The report, titled “Mount Laurel Obligations Made New Jersey Housing More Affordable?” and published by the Garden…