On Wednesday, the Sherrill-Caldwell transition team released its Lowering Housing Costs and Expanding Homeownership Action Team report, which recommends several steps that build on New Jersey’s innovative Mount Laurel policy framework — the state’s constitutional mandate that every community must plan for its fair share of affordable homes.

The collaborative report brought together advocates, policy experts, municipal officials, and community voices to identify actionable steps that can lower housing costs, expand opportunity, and strengthen housing stability across the state.

“This report lays out a set of proposals that, if acted on with urgency, can help ensure that New Jersey families are not left behind by rising housing costs,” said Fair Share Housing Center’s executive director, Adam Gordon, who served on the Lowering Housing Costs and Expanding Homeownership Action Team.

“Thanks to New Jersey’s landmark new law strengthening the Mount Laurel Doctrine, far more towns than ever before are creating affordable homes,” added Gordon. “With housing costs at record highs, now is the time for bold action to protect and build on this progress — especially amid unprecedented federal housing cuts.”

Support for Affordable Housing

The transition report includes strong recommendations to support implementation of 4th Round fair share plans, increase the supply of homes affordable to New Jersey residents, and expand pathways to ownership:

• Protect and invest in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which is often the only public source of funding for smaller, community-driven, shovel-ready developments.

• Direct NJ Transit and other state agencies to identify state-owned properties for transit-oriented housing development — putting homes near jobs and transit infrastructure.

• Increase assistance through NJHMFA’s Down Payment Assistance and First-Generation Homebuyer programs to help more families become homeowners and build intergenerational wealth.

Support for Zoning Reform and Regulatory Barriers

To address systemic barriers that drive up costs and limit housing production, the transition team recommended:

• Incentivizing redevelopment of stranded assets, such as dead malls and vacant commercial space, to create housing opportunities — a smart-growth approach that repurposes under-utilized sites for neighborhoods people can afford.

• Promoting construction of “Missing Middle” housing — including duplexes, triplexes, quads, and HUD-code manufactured homes — to expand attainable ownership options and support more diverse housing types.

• Reforming local zoning processes to reduce unnecessary restrictions on housing development, including expediting review of projects included in fair share plans.

• Streamlining state and local permitting processes and encouraging municipalities to adopt planning practices that support housing production and redevelopment.

• Expanding opportunities for non-profit, emerging, faith-based, and small and mid-sized developers to access state capital for housing projects.

Support for Tenant Protections

To protect tenants at risk of housing instability, several proposals align with key policy solutions championed by experts and advocates:

• Prioritizing investigations of housing discrimination and lending discrimination — reinforcing the state’s commitment to fair access to housing for all.

• Advancing federal and state policy responses to strengthen tenant protections in the face of federal housing program cuts.

• Strengthening enforcement of the Fair Chance in Housing Act and protections against predatory landlords and harmful rental practices.

• Supporting proposed legislation to provide a right to counsel for tenants facing eviction.

• Developing a new Homelessness Prevention and Housing Gap Subsidy Program to provide bridge funding for homeless assistance voucher projects and to strengthen eviction prevention efforts.

“The housing crisis will not be solved by any single policy,” said Gordon. “This report reflects a clear understanding that we must act on multiple fronts.”

“New Jersey voters gave Governor Sherrill a mandate to address a housing crisis that has been decades in the making,” he added. “Governor Sherrill enters office with a clear understanding that strong enforcement of fair housing laws, sustained funding, and zoning reform are essential to addressing the affordability crisis so many families face — and we’re ready to help move that work forward.”

Read the full report here.