HOW DOES YOUR COMMUNITY VIEW AFFORDABLEHOUSING?

New Jersey is an extremely expensive state, and even thosewith good, full-time jobs struggle to find an affordable place tolive. Responses to this week's poll indicate that their strugglemay continue. Nearly half (45%) of the responses say that theircommunities have adopted a 'Not in My Back Yard' stance when itcomes to affordable housing. An almost equal number (41%) say thateducation has helped, but affordable housing is not yet widelyaccepted by residents in their area. A mere 14% say their communityembraces it. Lori Grifa, a partner in the law firm Wolff &Samson in West Orange discusses a different community's view ofaffordable housing—non-residential developers. Here is what she hasto say:

"Generally, the non-residential developers I represent don'tobject to participating in the process of providing affordablehousing in some respect. However, the new regulations that havebeen proposed and are likely to be adopted next week threaten toderail non-residential development in New Jersey in its entiretybecause they are so burdensome.