The recommendations ordered up in Executive Order No. 17 are scheduled for delivery at the Governor's Conference on Housing and Economic Development, opening Tuesday at Harrah's Resort.

The first housing recommendations of Governor Mikie Sherrill's administration are scheduled to be delivered this week. The Housing Governing Council's plan is due at the Governor's Conference on Housing and Economic Development, opening Tuesday at Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, according to the state Department of Community Affairs.

Sherrill signed Executive Order No. 17 on April 27. The order directs the council to report to the Governor's Office within 150 days; the signing announcement framed the deadline as “by September 24 and in time for the Governor's Housing Conference.” It assigns five priority areas: long-term housing goals; “tracking and accelerating housing production”; turning agency-held “unutilized property, surplus property, and/or underutilized assets” into homes; developing and coordinating how housing is funded and financed across departments; and inventorying existing affordable and workforce units to expand access.

The order also shields the document from public-records law. Reports and recommendations produced under it “shall be deemed to be confidential, nonpublic, and not subject to the Open Public Records Act,” leaving any release to the Governor's Office. The administration committed in June to a conference release, when the Department of Community Affairs said the recommendations would be delivered at the event.

Every executive branch agency had sixty days to file reports on its land holdings, housing projects and regulatory obstacles. Until an agency files, it cannot dispose of property it owns. To put the council's recommendations into effect, the Governor's Office chief operating officer may fast-track procurement and bring in the technology and consulting the inventory and housing goals require, including waiving competitive bidding where statute allows.

Kellie Doucette, chief operating officer in the Governor's Office, chairs the council. The state community affairs commissioner, the chief executives of the state economic development and transit agencies and the state housing finance agency's executive director serve as co-chairs, per the order. The council convened for its first meeting on June 8, according to a post from Sherrill. On June 24 the administration announced two steps: a second round of the state's New Jersey Housing Opportunities for Municipal Equity and Success program and nearly $35 million from an affordable housing tax-credit auction.

The Department of Community Affairs publishes a public, unit-level count of affordable housing, and the report carries an “as of March 6, 2025” label. The statewide obligation exceeds 146,000 units under the department's fourth-round calculations; its accounting shows 78 municipalities submitted nothing.

The order's preamble states the pressure outright: “more than one-third of households, and more than one-half of renters, pay over thirty percent of their income for housing in New Jersey,” with housing costs up thirty percent between 2021 and 2023. The hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment reached $43.89 this year against an average renter wage of $24.92, per the 2026 Out of Reach report. The median home sale price reached $587,553 in August, per Redfin.

Sherrill is scheduled to keynote Tuesday in the Wildwood Ballroom; no keynote start time has been published in the conference materials. The first day also includes a bus tour of Atlantic City housing sites from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., sponsored by Columbia Bank and the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, with the tour guided by the Live Work Atlantic City Coalition. The conference runs through Wednesday, its 30th year. At the April 27 signing, she said: “We can't make New Jersey more affordable without making housing more affordable.”

State Senator Troy Singleton (D, 7th District), a primary sponsor of the 2024 law that moved affordable-housing obligation calculations from the courts to the Department of Community Affairs, said at the order's signing that “we can't fix affordability without fixing supply.” The Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey has made protection of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the mansion tax legislation its documented priorities this year. Assemblywoman Katie Brennan laid out the supply-side measures she wants next, including by-right approval, accessory dwelling units and single-stair construction reform, in a June op-ed for NJ Spotlight News. What the recommendations say about the lagging count, and what they hand to the Legislature, will frame the housing fight into 2027.

Related Articles

New Jersey Affordable Housing Tracking Recommendations Due September 24

After $114M Spent, NJ Housing Fund Gets $30M Back. Developers Call It Insufficient.

NJ Attorney General Expands Housing Discrimination Enforcement With 25 New Actions

Sources

• Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, “Legislative Testimony and Policy Materials on the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and Mansion Tax Dedication” (2026)

• New Jersey Business & Industry Association, “Registration is now open for the 2026 Governor's Conference on Housing and Economic Development” (July 22, 2026)

• National Low Income Housing Coalition, “Out of Reach 2026” (July 23, 2026)

• New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, “Announcement of the 2026 Governor's Conference on Housing and Economic Development” (June 12, 2026); “Fourth-Round Affordable Housing Need Calculations” (October 2024); “Affordable Housing Municipal Status Report” (March 6, 2025)

• New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, “GovConnect Conference Notices” (September 2026)

• NJ Spotlight News, Katie Brennan, “Op-Ed on Housing Supply Reforms” (June 16, 2026)

• Office of the Governor, “Executive Order No. 17” (April 27, 2026); “Signing Announcement” (April 27, 2026); “Front-Office Appointments Announcement” (March 3, 2026); “Social Media Post on the First Housing Governing Council Meeting” (June 8, 2026)

• Redfin, “New Jersey Housing Market Data” (August 2026)