With Deadline Looming, Can COAH Meet Its Supreme Court Mandate?

Housing experts say affordable housing council no closer to fixing Mt. Laurel problems.

With less than three months left for the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH) to meet a state Supreme Court mandate to determine each New Jersey municipality’s affordable housing obligation, the consensus in the housing community is that there’s no way for the currently inactive agency to meet its deadline.

Speaking Friday at a panel on the most recent of three Mt. Laurel Doctrine Supreme Court rulings, some of the state’s most prominent builders, municipal representatives, and housing attorneys agreed that even if COAH were to meet immediately for the first time since last May, the volunteer board wouldn’t be able to submit and publish its draft regulations with enough time to allow for the required 60-day public comment period.

This leaves the board with two options: petition the Supreme Court for an extension or ignore the court’s mandate.

To read the complete piece click here.

The Politics of COAH: why the appointments to NJ's Top Court matter

Does the NJ Governor have the power to abolish COAH? Hearing has constitutional and budgetary implications. http://bit.ly/119FwXS 

ICYMI, our analysis of the COAH hearing -- or why Christie & Sweeney's battle over the NJ Supreme Court matters. http://bit.ly/119FwXS 

New Jersey Supreme Court Decides to Hear Housing Appeals

Court Will Review Lower Court's Decision Finding Housing Regulations Inadequate For immediate release Contact: Kevin D. Walsh - 856-324-4461 Fair Share Housing Center Trenton, New Jersey - March 31, 2011 - The New Jersey Supreme Court has decided to review the October 8, 2010 Appellate Division decision that invalidated the Council on Affordable Housing's (COAH) flawed Third Round regulations. The Court's decision is in response to requests filed by thirteen municipalities and the New Jersey League of Municipalities that want the Court to relieve them of the obligation to provide zoning for starter homes for New Jersey's working families. The municipalities have the support of the Christie Administration, which has called for allowing wealthy municipalities to build walls that exclude working New Jerseyans, seniors, and people with special needs. More at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xhPV5EvvQBXewME7KX5PsrU1vCcfxbEkBnMMM4_Ir90/edit?hl=en##