Pursuant the 2024 Amendments to the Fair Housing Act, March 16 was the deadline by which all municipalities must adopt their ordinances implementing their Fourth Round Affordable Housing Elements and Fair Share Plans. This is also the deadline by which the municipalities must file these ordinances with the applicable Mt. Laurel Judge. If a municipality fails to adopt these ordinances and file them with the court, it will lose its immunity from builders’ remedy lawsuits.
Most municipalities have already complied with these requirements. For example, the Municipality of Princeton filed its adopted implementing ordinances this past Friday. Interestingly, Princeton, though not required by law to do so, went a step further. It adopted an ordinance implementing the Uniform Housing Affordability Controls, commonly known as UHAC. UHAC sets forth the requirements that inclusionary developments and 100% affordable developments must meet for the municipality to get credit for them under the Fair Housing Act. These requirements include things like bedroom size and bedroom distribution. Princeton’s ordinance is stricter than and imposes fees not required by the State UHAC rules.
For more information about this development, please contact Chris Tarr or Kevin Moore.
