Mayor Dalina Outraged by Builders’ Association Affordable Housing Challenge
Vows to fight Developers seeking only to line their pockets, not advance the public good
MONROE TOWNSHIP, N.J. – March 5, 2025 –Mayor Stephen Dalina announced today that the Township of Monroe is fighting a challenge filed by developers who want to force the construction of an unacceptable and over-burdensome number of affordable housing units in town. “The Township takes its obligation to allow for affordable housing very seriously and doesn’t need for-profit housing developers inflating that obligation for their own financial benefit,” Mayor Dalina said.
“The builders’ action here is disingenuous at best; they are not challenging towns because of their deep commitment to affordable housing,” Mayor Dalina said. “This is purely about making more money by building even more housing – whether its needed or not. After the builders leave, with money in pocket, it will be up to taxpayers to fund schools, infrastructure and all the other costs associated with having more homes in Monroe. That is unacceptable to me and the taxpayers I represent.”
Recent legislation (A4/S50) allowed municipalities to establish their next round affordable housing obligation for the next decade based on methodologies from previous court decisions. Monroe Township planners and other professionals carefully followed the legislation and adopted its reasonable and constitutional obligation on January 29th.
On February 27th, The New Jersey Builders Association, a trade organization representing housing developers, filed an official challenge to Monroe Township, seeking to double the number of affordable units required in the next round. They also challenged 158 other municipalities in the state, to increase housing development above the numbers filed by those municipalities.
“Every town should have adequate affordable housing. But we have gotten to the point where the developers, themselves, are now fueling the affordable housing agenda and are abusing it at every turn,” Mayor Dalina added. “This is no longer about the public good. And the developers are abusing the legislation beyond its intent for their own benefit.”
Monroe’s affordable housing commitment could have been higher, the mayor notes, but the ongoing commitment to preserving land has kept large swaths away from developers, such as recent open space acquisitions on School House Road and Spotswood Englishtown Road.
“I continue to call on the Legislature to allow for impact fees to be charged to developers,” Mayor Dalina said. “Those funds would be used by the municipality to ease the burden of this development, such as funding schools, road upgrades, sewer systems and other costs that developers are quick to pass on to taxpayers.”
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All media inquiries may be directed to the Monroe Township’s Public Information Officer Stacey Kennedy at 732-521-4400 or