{"id":25923,"date":"2026-01-13T11:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T16:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/?p=25923"},"modified":"2026-01-13T11:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T16:13:33","slug":"brick-settles-lawsuit-over-affordable-housing-requirements-with-bump-in-new-units","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/2026\/01\/brick-settles-lawsuit-over-affordable-housing-requirements-with-bump-in-new-units\/","title":{"rendered":"Brick Settles Lawsuit Over Affordable Housing Requirements With Bump in New Units"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"House<\/a>

Image from Wikimedia<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Brick Township, having been sued by two developers and an affordable housing advocacy group, has settled on a plan that provides a comparatively small number of new designated-affordable homes over the next decade, but remains dramatically lower than the state\u2019s original determination.<\/p>\n

The state, under its fourth round of affordable housing quotas imposed on municipalities across New Jersey, initially demanded Brick create 360 new housing units for low and moderate income residents, which was slightly pared down to 322 units through a challenge. Shortly after the challenge resulted in the reduction, Brick officials took matters into their own hands, with the township planner, engineers and attorneys drafting a plan that would provide 29 units over the next decade, reflecting what officials viewed as a realistic capacity given Brick\u2019s potential growth and capacity to add more residents.<\/p>\n

The township\u2019s plan drew lawsuits from three parties: the Fair Share Housing Center, an advocacy group that brings litigation against municipalities and is largely responsible for the implementation of the controversial Mt. Laurel Doctrine, a property owner in the township\u2019s industrial park that was seeking to build residential units on its land, and the developer of a proposed 60-unit housing complex off Drum Point Road that had already been turned down by the planning board. The Drum Point developer ultimately had its claim dismissed, while the other two plaintiffs continued their cases, leading Ocean County\u2019s affordable housing judge to appoint a special master to lead settlement talks.<\/p>\n

The township council voted Dec. 29, 2025 to execute the settlement as recommended by the special master. The settlement calls for Brick to create a plan for 106 affordable units, as well as the creation an overlay zone that \u201crealistically results in the development of 54 units that are affordable,\u201d Mayor Lisa Crate said in statement.<\/p>\n

Brick officials were notified by the state that if a settlement agreement was not only negotiated \u2013 but approved and executed by the council \u2013 by Dec. 31, the township would lose its immunity from future lawsuits and \u201cevery single developable parcel in Brick is subject to developer\u2019s rights to build without needing our approval,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n

The creation of affordable housing units is nuanced in that they can be created through the rehabilitation of existing properties and other means,, while the physical construction of new units \u2013 the most controversial aspect of affordable housing plans across the state \u2013 can be limited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we would prefer to be allowed to provide for affordable units on our own as we have successfully done for decades, the mandate to be complaint is clear,\u201d said Crate. \u201cThe penalties for not being compliant would be devastating in terms of growth in our town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crate said in her statement to Shorebeat that misconceptions on affordable housing should be clear: the units are not \u201csection 8\u201d rentals that are provided through housing vouchers, but residences that come with a reduced price for those who qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore and more families are sharing homes, with fewer and fewer younger people being able to buy a place of their own to start a family,\u201d she said. \u201cLiving with parents and grandparents is the new norm, between student loan debt, cost of living, and impossible-to-reach housing prices, families cannot afford home ownership.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Brick, designated-affordable units in the \u201clow income\u201d category can be offered to a family of four whose income does not exceed $67,300. For \u201cmoderate\u201d income units, a family of four who earns $107,608 would qualify.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a large percentage of the population today,\u201d Crate said. \u201cAnd the federal government\u2019s solution to allow for 50-year mortgages, may make monthly payments more affordable, but what kind of retirement will 40-year-olds have with the noose of a 50-year mortgage? It\u2019s not a solution. The solution is also not to build large complexes or apartment buildings for affordable units. The solution is to create communities with some of the units set aside as affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crate said that, ultimately, the model of affordable housing provisions carries on that which Brick has followed for decades \u2013 carving out a small number of affordable units within developments that would already be constructed, rather than developing large, high-density multifamily housing complexes where all of the units are crowded into one area. Brick\u2019s method has resulted in few to no complaints from residents, she said, and avoids more units owned by corporations rather than individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis model is the opposite of LLCs purchasing investment properties that they turn into rentals with little or no oversight,\u201d she said. \u201cThese homes, condos, townhouses, and apartments are already part of almost every neighborhood in Brick and will continue to be in this plan. In our plan, young families have hope for a home of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Brick Township, having been sued by two developers and an affordable housing advocacy group, has settled on a plan that provides a comparatively small number of new designated-affordable homes over the next decade, but remains dramatically lower than the state\u2019s original determination. The state, under its fourth round of affordable housing quotas imposed on municipalities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25122,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[1505,24,1504,4484],"class_list":["post-25923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-affordable-housing","tag-brick-nj-news","tag-coah","tag-featured"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Home_construction_in_Auburn_WA-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgt2Ft-6K7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25923"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25924,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25923\/revisions\/25924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}