MOTVALE—Mayor Michael Ghassali told Pascack Press that as of Aug. 14, 11 towns had ‘committed to paying $20,000 each to help fund a challenge to the state’s affordable housing law, meeting his original deadline to join the lawsuit.
Initially, Ghassali aimed to enlist 62 non-exempt towns to oppose the 62 currently exempt from affordable housing obligations. In early July, he emailed all 565 Garden State municipalities seeking their support and funding.
“Eleven towns are enough to go forward with it,” said Ghassali, adding that he was “confident” more towns would join. The Montvale Council recently passed a resolution to appropriate $30,000 to hire King, Moench & Collins LLP as affordable housing counsel.
Ghassali noted he had “many” meetings scheduled over the next two months to drum up additional support for the litigation.
Ghassali said the “highlights” of the legal strategy would be announced soon, but specific details would only be shared with town officials who contribute to the lawsuit. He stated that Michael Collins would be the lead attorney on the litigation.
Meanwhile, Emerson Borough Attorney John McCann advised the Borough Council against contributing $20,000 to the lawsuit until a clearer legal strategy emerged and a “cause of action” was clarified by the attorneys.
Ghassali told Pascack Press that the attorneys hired to file the lawsuit would provide details of their strategy in hopes of attracting more towns to contribute and join the battle.
Ghassali’s goal is to involve at least 62 towns in the lawsuit, emphasizing that the state’s affordable housing obligations should be shared by all New Jersey municipalities. He pointed out that 62 “urban aid” municipalities, including Hoboken, Jersey City, and Hackensack, are currently exempt from affordable housing obligations.
He expressed confusion over why these towns have no obligations, noting that he might not be able to afford to live in some towns currently excluded from these requirements.
Other exempt Bergen County towns include Ridgefield, Cliffside Park, Garfield, and Lodi. Ghassali posted the full list of “urban aid” municipalities on his mayoral Facebook page.
“Ours [affordable obligations] would be lessened if the others had obligations,” Ghassali said, referring to the 62 towns not required to provide such housing.
In mid-June, Ghassali posted on Facebook, “The coalition of NJ towns for a fairly distributed affordable housing obligation among all towns in the state continues to grow, with towns committing from four counties so far.”
He added, “This is going to be a coalition of 62 towns going to federal court. Each town is committing $10,000 this year and $10,000 next year, totaling an overall budget of $1.2 million.”
Ghassali explained, “We are asking to include the 62 towns that don’t have any affordable housing obligation, thereby lessening the overall obligations for the rest of us. We want each town in the state to have its fair share of the affordable housing obligation.”
Officials from New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs said they plan to provide municipal affordable obligations to all towns by Oct. 20, as required under the affordable housing law Gov. Phil Murphy signed in March.