New Jersey’s acute need for housing affordable to the poor and middle class creates opportunities for builders and challenges municipal government. Hill Wallack LLP attorneys have played a pioneering role in establishing the municipal constitutional obligation to provide for affordable housing, and in creating incentives for private builders to construct such housing.

Throughout the past 35 years, the attorneys in our Land Use Team have led the development of strategies for builders and property owners to make the best use of the opportunities created by the constitutional “Mount Laurel” obligation to develop housing in communities throughout New Jersey. Our attorneys have been involved in affordable housing proceedings involving more than 100 municipalities.

Our Clients

• Builders and developers
• Municipalities
• Banks and other financial institutions
• The New Jersey Builders Association

What We Do

We represent builders and property owners in:

• Negotiations and litigation to secure rezonings and development approvals in municipalities that have not met their constitutional obligations
• Negotiations and litigation to convert commercial and industrial properties and underutilized residential properties to multi-family residential projects in municipalities that have not met their constitutional obligations
• Resisting unfair or inappropriate municipal affordable housing-related fees and other mandates

We provide advice and representation to:

• Builders and property owners in issues involving compliance with local and state affordable housing mandates
• Builders, property owners, and non-profit entities in securing and utilizing low income housing tax credits and other state and federal subsidies
• Municipalities in planning for satisfaction of their constitutional obligations
• The New Jersey Builders Association, in our capacity as NJBA’s Land Use Counsel, in legislative, regulatory, and litigation matters involving a wide array of issues of importance to those engaged in the development and redevelopment of land

Representative Matters

• Recent litigation in the Appellate Division and the New Jersey Supreme Court contesting the “third round” regulations of the Council on Affordable Housing, on behalf of the NJBA
• Representation of the plaintiff-developer in the New Jersey Supreme Court case of Toll Brothers v. Tp. of West Windsor, a case that reaffirmed the validity of the Mount Laurel doctrine
• Countless matters before the courts and COAH involving compliance with the Mount Laurel doctrine and builder claims for rezonings
• Testimony before New Jersey legislative committees regarding proposed affordable housing legislation

Our attorneys have repeatedly been honored by the NJBA for our work on behalf of builders in this area of the law.