Despite a looming deadline from the state Supreme Court, New Jersey's Council on Affordable Housing this week failed to adopt a new set of rules governing the number of homes each town in the state must make available for low- and moderate-income residents under the law.
The council, known as COAH, voted 3-3 on whether to give final approval of the guidelines — 15 years after the last ones expired. That wasn't enough votes for the rules to pass.
But what happens next is unclear. The Supreme Court ruled last year that COAH must pass new guidelines by November. In order to the rules to be ready for the next state register, they would have had to be adopted by Wednesday.
That didn't happen. The Supreme Court warned last year that if COAH didn't adopt new guidelines, it might strip away protections that keep municipalities from being sued by developers over affordable housing. But it's possible the court could extend the deadline again.
"We have to find out what the Supreme Court is going to do," said Tim Doherty, one of the council members who voted against adoption. "The ball is in their court now."
It's the latest chapter in a decades-long saga over affordable housing in New Jersey, one that has found Gov. Chris Christie and the Supreme Court fighting over the need for such regulations.
