December 18, 2023 | Press Release
TRENTON – Today, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Senate President Nicholas Scutari, Senator Troy Singleton, and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez held a press conference to announce forthcoming legislation that would set a course for future enforcement of New Jersey’s Mt. Laurel Doctrine, which is known as the strongest framework in the nation to require affordable homes in historically exclusionary communities.
Below is a statement from Reverend Eric Dobson, President of the United Black Agenda coalition:
“It’s encouraging that New Jersey’s legislative leaders are taking steps to safeguard and strengthen our state’s affordable housing framework. At a time when housing costs — and homelessness — are rapidly rising across our state, affordable housing must be protected and expanded to meet the challenges that working families are facing.
First established through organizing and legal action by local NAACP branches and residents in South Jersey almost 50 years ago, the Mount Laurel Doctrine has helped break down patterns of segregation and has promoted greater economic integration across New Jersey. Since 2015 — when the Mt. Laurel Doctrine was reinvigorated by a NJ Supreme Court ruling after decades of political obstruction — the rate of affordable housing production has nearly doubled, multi-family housing production has significantly increased, and neighborhoods have become more integrated. But we’re still making up for lost time.
Research shows that integration isn’t just an end unto itself. Families who live in integrated communities have better health outcomes, they are more likely to be employed in jobs that pay better, and their children have improved access to higher-quality educational opportunities.
It is now more incumbent than ever that New Jersey policymakers continue to break down exclusionary housing policies that have perpetuated the racial wealth gap.”
