The Fight to Provide Affordable Housing for the Poor: The New Jersey Mount Laurel Decisions

Author: Carl S. Bisgaier

In 1975, the New Jersey Supreme Court issued its decision in Southern Burlington County NAACP v. Mount Laurel Township, requiring municipalities in the the state to provide their “fair share” of affordable housing to meet a region’s affordable housing needs. Commonly known as Mount Laurel I, this decision paved the way for New Jersey to have one of the strongest affordable housing regimes in the United States, bolstered by enforcement mechanisms provided by the court in 1983’s Mount Laurel II decision, and the Fair Housing Act passed by the New Jersey Legislature in 1985. This article is a personal account from of those nearly two decades of litigation by the lead attorney of the cases, Carl S. Bisgaier. From meeting named plaintiff, Ethel Lawrence, to the construction of the homes named in her honor, Bisgaier recounts the work that went into creating the Mount Laurel Doctrine and the people involved. Read more.