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July 31, 2025
AFFORDABLE HOUSING: "FOURTH ROUND" FAIR SHARE PLAN CHALLENGES DUE AUGUST 31, 2025
Thomas F. Carroll, III, Esq. and Vidhaath Sripathi, Esq.
Interested parties – including developers, contract-purchasers, and property owners desiring to construct affordable housing/inclusionary development on their property that are not reflected in a municipality’s “Fourth Round” fair share plan – must file an appropriate challenge with the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program by August 31, 2025.
On March 20, 2024, Governor Phil Murphy signed landmark legislation into law (commonly known as “A4”), which amended the New Jersey Fair Housing Act, N.J.S.A. 52:27D-301 et seq., and established new municipal guidelines for the “Fourth Round” of affordable housing compliance in furtherance of the Mount Laurel doctrine. While the amendments set forth a more streamlined approach to determine municipal fair share obligations and created a new dispute resolution framework – the Affordable Housing Dispute Resolution Program (the “Program”) – implementation of the Fourth Round and its statutory directives remains an evolving process.
Throughout each stage thus far, from monitoring the legislative process, to determining municipal fair share obligations through participation in the Program’s proceedings as co-counsel to the New Jersey Builders Association, and litigating appeals arising therefrom, the Land Use Group at Hill Wallack LLP has been at the forefront of the Fourth Round process and is committed to keeping its clients, colleagues, and all interested stakeholders apprised of the most recent updates regarding compliance with A4.
The A4 legislation set forth various statutory deadlines for municipalities and interested parties to participate in the Fourth Round. As of the date of this writing, fair share obligations have now been established and each participating municipality (with a couple of exceptions) has filed a Housing Element and Fair Share Plan (“HEFSP”) with the Program.
The next critical deadline is August 31, 2025, the date by which interested parties must file any challenges to a municipal resolution adopting a Fourth Round HEFSP.
Per A4, such challenges must allege that a municipality’s HEFSP is “not in compliance with the [New Jersey Fair Housing Act] or the Mount Laurel doctrine,” with particularity as to “which sites or elements of the [HEFSP] do not comply with” those sources of law, and challenges must also provide the “basis for alleging such non-compliance.” N.J.S.A. 52:27D-304.1(3)(f)(2)(b). The law, however, excludes challenges merely alleging that “a site on real property proposed by the interested party is a better site than a site in the plan.” Ibid.
Furthermore, HEFSPs in the Fourth Round are subject to A4’s “lookback” provision, which states that HEFSPs must “include an assessment of the degree to which the municipality has met its fair share obligation from the prior rounds of affordable housing obligations as established by prior court approval, or approval by [COAH], and determine to what extent this obligation is unfulfilled or whether the municipality has credits in excess of its prior round obligations.” Id. at (2)(a). Thus, challenges concerning a Fourth Round HEFSP will involve review of a municipality’s prior round compliance as well.
As the Fourth Round moves further into uncharted territory, Hill Wallack LLP and its team of experienced attorneys continue to serve as leading experts in affordable housing law in New Jersey and remain committed to the Firm’s mission of providing the best possible land use and litigation solutions for its clients.
Should you have any questions, concerns, or interests affected by the Fourth Round/Program process, please do not hesitate to contact Thomas F. Carroll, III, Esq. or Vidhaath Sripathi, Esq.
