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Towns wrestle with looming affordable housing deadline BY BILL SANSERVINO
Ewing High School girls’ basketball players Kyla Durham and Malayah Miller.
Durham, Miller work to keep EHS girls’ hoops standards high BY JUSTIN FEIL
Kyla Durham and Malayah Miller are determined to keep the standard high for the Ewing High girls basketball team. The duo are the lone seniors returning for a Blue Devils team that graduated four senior start-
ers – including three McDonald’s All-American nominees who are playing Division I basketball now – from last year’s team that reached the Group III state semifinals after winning the state title in 2023. They are confident that this year’s team, while less experienced on the varsity court than last year, can
be successful again. “The confidence really just comes within all of us,” Miller said. “Everybody’s really just a bright light. It’s never a dull moment between all of us, so it’s just like we all feed off each other’s energy.” The seniors know what it takes See BASKETBALL, Page 18
New Jersey municipalities are once again under the gun to build thousands of units of affordable housing thanks to a new state law passed earlier this year. Every town in the state is currently up against a Jan. 31 deadline to pass a binding resolution to formally adopt their affordable housing requirement over the next decade. The goal is to address a statewide demand for almost 150,000 low- and moderate-income units. Under numbers released by the state earlier this year, Mercer County towns would be required to rehabilitate a total of 1,800 existing affordable units (mostly in the City of Trenton) as well as provide for the construction of 3,500 new units. Because the construction of these affordable units is often subsidized through the construction of market rate housing, it could result in tens of thousands of new houses in Mercer County alone. In March, Gov. Phil Murphy and the state legislature
approved new affordable housing legislation outlining new processes for determining and enforcing municipalities’ constitutional responsibility to provide affordable housing withing its borders. “At this critical juncture in New Jersey, with soaring housing prices and limited housing stock, this legislation is essential,” said state Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, a primary sponsor of the bill. She added: “Furthermore, by streamlining the process for municipalities with clear guidance and deadlines, we aim to make fulfilling affordable housing obligations less daunting while effectively addressing the state’s affordable housing shortage.” As required by the new law, the N.J. Department of Community Affairs released new affordable housing calculations for each municipality in October. The calculations outline the affordable housing needs for the period between 2025-2035. In addition to the resolution, the law also requires municipaliSee AFFORDABLE, Page 6
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