To the editor:
As campaign season heats up, Hopewell Township voters are sure to hear much about affordable housing, described as “one of the most convoluted issues in New Jersey.” This is an arena in which H.L Mencken’s warning that “for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong” certainly applies.
Over the years, New Jersey courts have repeatedly ruled that access to affordable housing is essentially a right and that municipalities like Hopewell Township have an obligation to provide for their “fair share” of the state’s affordable housing needs. Over time, the question became not “whether” or “why” but “how” municipalities like Hopewell Township will provide for affordable housing.
After decades of delay in implementing court rulings and state affordable housing law, the state Supreme Court in 2015 decided that judges would take over the administration of affordable housing in New Jersey. Hopewell Township is under the Mercer County jurisdiction of Judge Mary C. Jacobson, who ruled that more than 155,000 affordable housing units are needed statewide.
To resolve developer litigation that could wrest control of development from the township committee, planning and zoning boards, in 2017 the committee negotiated a settlement approved by Judge Jacobson that reduced the number of required units by 35 percent. For the first time in many years, Hopewell Township has reasonable certainty about how to plan and what actions it must take, while retaining control of our finances and our disciplined land use process, a result that should make us rightfully proud.
Not satisfied with this outcome, some critics have suggested that Hopewell Township take control of affordable housing by directly financing it with township funds, a proposal that meets the definition of “clear, simple and wrong.” In formulating our earlier COAH Round III plan, we found that acquisition and construction costs of affordable housing at this scale would increase the township budget by over 30 percent and double the township’s debt with nearly $90 million in additional costs over the 20-year planning period.
Getting to a good solution on affordable housing will require a sustained all-hands effort by our elected representatives, township officers and professionals, and our dedicated citizen volunteers. We have come too far to allow proposals that claim to be clear and simple steer us down the wrong path.
David Sandahl
Hopewell Township
(David Sandahl was a member of the Hopewell Township Committee and Planning Board from 2004-2009)
