The plan's data brief says that without policy change the state is not on pace to close its housing shortage, and an April executive order deems the agencies' land reports confidential.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill's plan to bring down housing costs for New Jersey renters and buyers looks to state-owned land for as many as 42,800 homes, but its published documents do not list the parcels that make up that land.
In a data brief, the Housing Governing Council, which Sherrill created by executive order in April and her chief operating officer chairs, puts New Jersey's need at 350,500 to 406,500 new homes over 10 years.
The brief forecasts permits for 22,000 to 28,000 homes a year and says "absent policy change, New Jersey is not on pace to close the housing shortage." The council's strategy report lists the governor's "housing production goals" but sets no yearly number of homes for the state to build.
Median rents in New Jersey reached $1,800 in 2024, up 31 percent from 2019, the brief says. Median income rose 22 percent over the same years.
A household earning the median income of $106,000 can afford a $393,000 home, the brief says. The median home costs $556,000, according to the brief.
NJBallot previewed the plan Sept. 29, the day Sherrill released it at a housing conference in Atlantic City.
The state named four priority sites, and an April order deems agency land reports confidential
The brief says the state owns approximately 3,100 acres that it considers suitable for housing. It puts the opportunity on that land at 37,200 to 42,800 homes.
The brief names four "priority sites." In Jersey City, it lists 12 acres at the Liberty State Park Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Park-and-Ride, owned by NJ Transit. Jersey City officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The Hamilton Transit Center covers 27 acres owned by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, according to the brief. On the authority's list of bidding opportunities, the site appears as "Hamilton Station – Inactive." Hamilton Township officials did not respond to requests for comment.
In Camden, the brief lists 13 waterfront acres owned by the authority and the state Department of Corrections. The brief does not name the land, but its map marks riverfront property near Delaware Avenue and Elm Street, where the authority's records place the former Riverfront State Prison.
The authority's October 2025 solicitation for the former prison land allowed "mixed use projects consisting of market rate housing and commercial development" but said "In no instance will redevelopment be comprised solely of housing." Camden city officials did not respond to requests for comment.
In Atlantic City, the brief lists the 5-acre Atlantic City Convention Center Lots, owned by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority did not respond to requests for comment.
Neither the brief nor the strategy report lists the parcels that make up the rest of the 3,100 acres. The report says the administration "highlighted 15 new sites for housing and economic development" but does not list them.
The report says the state's full land inventory covers "hundreds of thousands of acres," most of it "protected or in active use by the State." Gov. Sherrill said the council's recommendations reflect input from 47 agencies and authorities; the state will incorporate the data into its online GIS map, where it will be visible as a layer.
As of Oct. 12, the state had not posted the inventory layer or a list of the parcels behind the 3,100 acres.
Sherrill's Executive Order 17, signed April 27, required state agencies and authorities to report to the council with an inventory of their land and any unused or surplus property that might suit housing.
The order calls the reports and records it produces "advisory, consultative, and deliberative materials" and says they "shall be deemed to be confidential, non-public, and not subject to the Open Public Records Act," the state's public-records law. That law lists an "Executive Order of the Governor" among the sources of its exemptions. The governor's office did not respond to requests for comment.
The brief says the state is not on pace to close the shortage
The council estimates the state is "likely to permit 28,000 homes per year over the next decade," or "around 22,000 units annually" if interest rates stay elevated, according to the brief.
Permitting "dropped sharply" to 27,600 homes in 2025, the brief says.
Sherrill's April order required the council's initial recommendations to address "Proposing housing goals for this Administration."
The governor's announcement provides "a much-needed, whole-of-government approach to addressing New Jersey's housing crisis," Adam Gordon, executive director of Fair Share Housing Center, said in a statement Sept. 29.
"If New Jersey wants to make housing more attainable, we have to make it easier to build," Jeff Kolakowski, CEO of the New Jersey Builders Association, said.
Local zoning's reach on state land depends on the deal
The strategy report says the administration "highlighted additional potential sites in Hamilton, Camden, and Atlantic City," cities that also appear on the brief's priority list.
The governor's "Front Office has been very engaged with the League and local officials in crafting the 'Five Pillars,'" Michael Cerra, executive director of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, said.
But the policies "were developed internally by the Sherrill Administration," Cerra said, and so was the state-land list, "as we certainly had no inventory of such lands."
In Linden, the Economic Development Authority's call for developers on a commuter lot it bought from NJ Transit says the project "will be subject to state, local zoning requirements and planning board approvals."
The exception is a ground lease that ends in a required purchase. While the authority owns the land, the buildings "will not be subject to local zoning or planning," though they still face "Capital Plan review" under Linden's land use law, the solicitation says. The New Jersey Economic Development Authority did not respond to requests for comment.
NJ Transit's 2025 land plan says the agency "respects home rule in New Jersey and the legislative process." It also asks lawmakers for land-use authority on its property, citing a Maryland law that "exempts state land use for transportation at transit stations from local zoning."
In Red Bank, the planning board has been reviewing The Rail at Red Bank North, Denholtz's 175-home project on NJ Transit land under a 98-year ground lease.
The borough council introduced an ordinance Sept. 24 to ensure at least 20 percent affordable housing under its train station redevelopment plan. The ordinance "was not intended to address or indicate a position regarding the current project," according to the meeting's minutes, which summarize the deputy mayor's remarks.
Whether state land answers to local zoning reached the state Supreme Court in 1972. The court ruled that Rutgers University did not have to follow Piscataway's zoning to build student family housing, and said the same would generally hold for state agencies.
Such immunity "is not completely unbridled," the court said, and an agency "ought to consult with the local authorities." The case involved a university housing its own students, not state land offered to private developers.
State land "may not necessarily be subject to local zoning," Cerra said, but letting local zoning and planning "inform and guide any decision making" would benefit all parties. Land in an industrial area "would likely not be suited for residential development," he said.
Local officials have raised "questions and concerns" since the plan's release, including about "local control and impact on existing 3rd and 4th round housing plans," Cerra said.
Atlantic City, Jersey City and Camden owe no new affordable homes in the current 10-year round because state law exempts qualified urban aid municipalities, according to the Department of Community Affairs. The department still assigns each city a "present need" count of substandard homes occupied by low- and moderate-income households, including 3,733 in Jersey City and 1,342 in Camden.
Atlantic City's count is 875. Atlantic City officials did not respond to requests for comment.
"Local governments know their communities, infrastructure, school capacities, and available land better than any bureaucrat in Trenton," Sen. Joe Pennacchio, R-Morris, Passaic, said in a statement on state housing mandates issued before the plan's release.
The state is diverting less from the housing trust fund, and a key tax credit stays paused
"For too long, the state has treated the Affordable Housing Trust Fund like a personal piggy bank," Sherrill said Sept. 29.
Her March budget proposal would have cut diversions from the fund by "over $70 million," according to the state's budget summary. The budget she signed in June cut them by "nearly $80 million," according to the strategy report.
"Only $36 million is expected to be available for affordable home production in FY 2027 through the trust fund," Fair Share Housing Center said in July.
The Economic Development Authority paused new applications to Aspire, its tax-credit program, on July 23. As of Oct. 12, its program page still showed the pause and said the authority "expects to reopen applications this fall with revised criteria."
Sherrill's January permitting order says the shot clocks the plan promises "shall not be construed to create new legally enforceable standards." As of Oct. 12, the plan's documents did not list their deadlines.
Red Bank's planning board is scheduled to review the ordinance Oct. 14, and the state's fall tax credit auction opens Oct. 16. At its Sept. 9 hearing, the board carried The Rail at Red Bank North to Oct. 28, and proposals for the Linden lot are due Jan. 5, 2027.
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Photo: Famartin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0