The Housing Crisis Isn’t Going to Solve Itself

June 04 | 10:18 AM

The Senate Community and Urban Affairs Committee, which I proudly chair, has spent this legislative session focusing almost entirely on one overriding reality – that New Jersey has a housing crisis, and it isn’t going to solve itself. Month after month, we focused our agenda on legislation that makes homeownership more accessible, expands housing supply, updates zoning laws, protects tenants, and more. This week, we continued to address New Jersey’s housing crisis by advancing two bills aimed at expanding housing opportunities and reducing barriers to development.

One bill, the “Yes in God’s Backyard” (YIGBY) Act, would make it easier for religious institutions and nonprofit organizations to develop affordable housing on underutilized property. I've always believed that faith communities don't just preach their values on Sunday morning. They live them the other six days of the week. And across New Jersey, there are congregations and nonprofits sitting on land, that could be housing for seniors, working families, and people who have been priced out and pushed out of the communities they helped build. The land is there. The will is there. What's been missing is the pathway, and that’s what this bill provides.

The second bill would establish accessory dwelling units (ADUs), such as in-law suites, garage apartments, and backyard cottages, as a permitted use in single- and two-family residential zones, creating new housing options for seniors, young adults, and working families. ADUs aren't illegal in most of New Jersey. They're just effectively impossible. Because we've left the decision entirely to local governments, and too many of those local governments have decided that the status quo -- low density, low supply, high prices -- works just fine for the people already there. What about the young teacher who grew up in this town and can't afford to move back? What about the senior who wants to move into small unit on her daughter's property so she doesn't have to leave her community? Our bill says that homeowners have rights too.

These two bills aren't going to solve everything. No two bills ever do. But they are part of a larger architecture this committee has been building, piece by piece, hearing by hearing, because we understand that the housing crisis doesn't have one cause, and it won't have one cure.

Watch here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/2156827198446635