Land Use Law Commons^™

Court Prods Municipality: Other States Offer Large Number Of Models To Consider, John R. Nolon, Jessica A. Bacher

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The state legislature’s decision to leave the creation of affordable housing to New York’s local governments has resulted in a segmented, slowly evolving, and insufficient resolution to a statewide problem. For example, the Orange County Supreme Court, in Land Master v. Montgomery, struck down a zoning law that eliminated all as-of-right multifamily development, in a municipality where affordable housing was in urgent need. This article reviews comprehensive initiatives from other states, and suggests that through the adoption of a state legislation and planning, the affordable housing problem is rectifiable