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NJ judge dismisses lawsuit to overturn affordable housing law. Towns vow appeal.
By
Mike Hayes
Published Oct 2, 2025
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By
Mike Hayes
Published Oct 2, 2025
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Mayor Mike Ghassali of Montvale, New Jersey has vowed to appeal a state judge’s decision that would curb an attempt to overturn the state's new affordable housing law.
In an 81-page ruling this week, Mercer County Judge Robert Lougy dismissed the lawsuit brought by officials representing 27 municipalities, including Ghassali. They argued the state’s affordable housing development mandates overburdened their towns.
In 2024, Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law the framework for the latest round of requirements for low- and middle-income housing. The law stemmed from the state’s 50-year-old Mount Laurel doctrine, a series of state Supreme Court decisions that have repeatedly determined that — under the state constitution — every municipality in the Garden State must contribute its “fair share” of affordable housing.
Lougy ruled that the towns’ claims were insufficient to merit legal action by the court.
“Because all counts of plaintiffs’ complaints fail to state a legal claim, the court grants defendants’ application for an order dismissing both complaints with prejudice,” Lougy wrote in his decision.
The lawsuit was originally filed in September 2024. Ghassali assembled a coalition that brought the case against the state’s attorney general’s office, recruiting 26 other towns to join the legal action over several months.
Ghassali said the judge’s decision this week was “very disappointing.”
“Basically [he’s] saying that we shouldn't even say anything because this is the law, just take it,” he said.
In a statement, state Attorney General Matthew Platkin said he was pleased the court "dismissed these lawsuits brought by a small group of towns against New Jersey’s landmark affordable housing law."
"Our office will always work to protect the rights of New Jerseyans to fair and affordable housing,” Platkin said.
Affordable housing advocates celebrated Lougy's decision. In a statement, Josh Bauers, director of exclusionary zoning litigation for the Fair Share Housing Center, said the organization was thankful the judge saw through the towns’ “baseless claims.”
“It’s outrageous that a handful of wealthy towns are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money trying to block the affordable homes New Jerseyans desperately need,” he said.
Each town that joined the lawsuit committed to contributing $20,000 for legal fees, Ghassali said.
Lougy’s ruling this week follows a series of rejections over the last year by the judge and higher courts in the state. The towns had sought to put the new law’s affordable housing process on hold while their lawsuit played out, but failed with each attempt.
The latest 10-year round of Mount Laurel affordable housing development began in July of this year. State officials have set a goal of building roughly 80,000 new low-priced homes over the next decade. On average, towns are being asked to generate about 150 new affordable housing units, though some towns are required to do more.
Montvale, in Bergen County, has a mandate of 205 units, Ghassali said. But he contends that the state is asking him to develop on land that wouldn’t work for housing.
“We can't build over railroad track, we can't build under power lines, we can't build in New York state, which the calculation includes all those,” Ghassali said.
Because the case was dismissed with prejudice, it cannot be filed again. The towns also have an ongoing case in federal court seeking a reduction in their fourth-round numbers.
Tagged
housing
new jersey
Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes covers equity and access to opportunity in New Jersey. He joined WNYC and Gothamist in 2023. Before that, he worked as a freelance journalist writing about policing and criminal justice. He has written for ProPublica, CNN, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News and The Appeal. He is also the author of the book, “The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform.” In 2019, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists.
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