The City of Hoboken has agreed to amend a municipal ordinance to allow greater affordable housing access settle a discrimination case that was reviewed by the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, Attorney General Matt Platkin announced.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Housing discrimination continues to deny too many New Jerseyans the opportunity to access safe, affordable housing. That’s why I have made combating housing discrimination a priority since day one,” Platkin said in a statement.
“The agreement announced today will make it easier for eligible low-income people to access affordable housing in a part of our state where rents are skyrocketing and affordable housing opportunities are at a premium. This settlement underscores our ongoing commitment to ensuring that affordable housing is available – free from discrimination – to those who need it.”
The settlement announced today resolves a DCR investigation regarding Hoboken’s Municipal Ordinance Amendment B-175, which was enacted in 2019 and grants current Hoboken residents preferential access to affordable housing.
The ordinance replaced a prior policy that gave affordable housing preference to residents of a broader four-county region (Hudson, Bergen, Passaic, and Sussex counties).
DCR opened its investigation after a Black Jersey City resident filed a complaint with DCR alleging that she was not permitted to apply for an affordable housing unit in Hoboken despite having been on the waitlist for five years.
Among other things, the complainant alleged that Hoboken discriminated based on race.
Hoboken has agreed to amend its ordinance to no longer have a city-only residency requirement.
As part of the settlement announced today, Hoboken will also provide relief to individuals who were previously denied or skipped over on the waitlist, and Hoboken has agreed to allocate an additional $30,000 for affordability assistance and other fair housing projects.
“Discrimination has no place in affordable housing policy. Ensuring equitable access to affordable housing is fundamental and a critical component of building inclusive communities,” added DCR Director Yolanda N. Melville.
“This settlement is a significant step forward in our mission to promote equal access to housing for all New Jersey residents. We are committed to continuing our work across the state to foster environments where everyone has the opportunity to live in safe, affordable homes, without facing any form of discrimination. We thank Hoboken for working with DCR to resolve this matter.”
The DCR investigated whether Hoboken’s residency preference may have an unlawful disparate impact in violation of the state Law Against Discrimination (LAD), which prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of race, national origin, as well as other protected characteristics.
The LAD prohibits not only conduct that expressly treats people differently based on a protected class but also policies that have an unlawful disparate impact on members of a protected class.
This latter form of discrimination is known as disparate impact discrimination.
DCR’s investigation raised concerns that Hoboken’s residency preference may have a disparate impact based on race because the policy has the effect of excluding residents of surrounding towns that are more racially diverse than Hoboken.
Under the settlement announced today, Hoboken has agreed to amend its Ordinance to eliminate the city-only residency preference, reverting instead to a preference for individuals and families within the four aforementioned COAH Region 1 counties.
Going forward, the city will apply this regional preference for any newly constructed units that help Hoboken satisfy its 2025 to 2035 affordable housing obligations in compliance with the Mount Laurel doctrine and affordable housing legislation.
The agreement announced today also commits Hoboken to taking the following steps to resolve this matter:
• Applicants previously denied or skipped on the waitlist because of Hoboken’s residency preference will have their prior waitlist position reinstated.
• Those removed from the waitlist for failing to complete annual recertifications may also seek reinstatement to the waitlist if they originally applied for affordable housing before this amendment to the Ordinance.
• Applicants who were previously skipped or removed will be screened for an opportunity to apply to an affordable housing unit, if otherwise eligible.
• All staff whose work relates to affordable housing administration will be required to complete training on housing discrimination laws.
“We are happy to work with the AG’s office to advance a resolution that reflects our common goals of ensuring equal opportunity to affordable housing in Hoboken,” Mayor Ravi Bhalla told HCV in a statement.
Monday evening, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher insisted that Platkin mischaracterized the situation in a long post on X.
” … What AG Platkin ignored is a clear demographic reality: while Hoboken overall is less diverse than some nearby cities, at lower income levels our population is far more diverse—something seen across America. It is an unfortunate reality, but it directly undercuts the premise of his claim,” she wrote.
“When his office first asked us to admit to discrimination, Mayor @RaviBhalla, myself, and my Council colleagues pushed back because it simply wasn’t true. We ultimately agreed not to a settlement, but to an MOA—approved by the City Council on November 5th. The framing in today’s press statement is baseless and disappointing.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated with a comment from Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and then 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher.
The financial burden again falls on the existing taxpaying residents of Hoboken to subsidize those who want all the benefits afforded by decades of hard work without paying the cost.
Removing the residency preference eliminates one of the very few reasons given to the highly taxed residents had to ever support building any new below market building projects. The rush to approve the massive new high rise building on the parking garages used the emotional argument that Hoboken need to help our own. That is no longer valid.
Hoboken will have a double digit property tax increase in the next year.
It should be Hoboken residents first all others after. People who live in Hoboken all their lives years and waiting for affordable apartment should not be skip for someone out of town.
Too late, I got mine! Bumping up from a studio to a bedroom. It’s all good, for me me me me!