N.J. releases new affordable housing requirements through 2035. See your town’s numbers.

Municipalities in New Jersey now know exactly how many new affordable housing units they are expected to authorize over the next decade.

The state Department of Community Affairs released non-binding calculations Friday on the number of affordable homes the state’s 564 municipalities are required to allow to be built or rehabilitated by 2035. (See the numbers for each New Jersey town below.)

The calculations include two types of affordable housing obligations — “present need” and “prospective need.” Prospective need refers to creating new affordable housing, while present need means renovating existing affordable housing that has been deemed “substandard.”

In total, New Jersey municipalities are expected to add or rehabilitate more than 146,000 units of affordable housing by 2035, according to the state’s new calculations.

Municipalities have until Jan. 31 to adopt the guidance or provide their own calculation consistent with state law, according to the Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization. Towns also have until June 30 to adopt specific plans on how they will address adding the number of units.

The state lists each municipality’s affordable housing calculations on the Department of Community Affair’s website.

Can’t see the chart? Click here.

The numbers do not mean municipalities need to build the affordable housing themselves. But, they must zone for builders to propose constructing the housing. The state used a complex formula to calculate the numbers that included looking at the median income in each town and assessing the open space, existing homes and other factors.

The guidelines follow a new law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in March.

The new housing law (S50) standardizes obligations for municipalities throughout the state to build more housing units. It also gives towns more protection from lawsuits that aim to stop affordable housing from being built.

“I am grateful to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for their timeliness in calculating this data and their partnership in advancing our shared goal of expanding access to affordable housing,” Murphy said. “We look forward to seeing this law implemented and benefiting families across the Garden State.”

The requirements are part of the state’s fourth round of affordable housing obligations under the Mount Laurel Doctrine, which refers ​​to a series of landmark state Supreme Court decisions that outlawed exclusionary zoning practices and required all towns in New Jersey to provide their fair share of the region’s affordable housing.

The obligations are recalculated every 10 years in cycles known as rounds. Each municipality’s obligations are calculated by looking at various factors, including job growth, existing affordable housing and the growth of low- and moderate-income households.

Urban municipalities’ obligations often include higher “present need” numbers because they’ve historically produced more affordable housing than suburban municipalities, the Fair Share Housing Center said.

Newark in Essex County, for example, is expected to allow for the rehabilitation of 4,630 units for “present need” and create zero new units for “prospective need,” according to the data.

And in Camden County, Tavistock — New Jersey’s tiniest town, with just a few houses along a golf course — is slated for zero affordable units for both present and prospective need, according to the state’s calculations.

The Fair Share Housing Center will be analyzing the state’s calculations, officials said.

“This is an opportunity for municipalities to prioritize sensible and equitable growth, redevelopment, and infrastructure investments that will benefit their communities for generations to come,” said Adam Gordon, the executive director of Fair Share Housing Center.

The state Department of Community Affairs also announced it is launching NJ Housing Opportunities for Municipal Equity and Success, called NJHOMES, early next year.

The initiative will offer financial resources, technical assistance and other tools to help municipalities develop affordable housing in their communities.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there’s a shortage of roughly 214,000 affordable homes for extremely-low-income renters in New Jersey.

However, not everyone agrees with New Jersey’s new affordable housing law or how each town’s numbers are calculated.

“These numbers were expected to be burdensome, but the reality is even worse,” Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali said in a statement. “The State has handed us housing requirements that defy reality and will force local governments to stretch their resources to the breaking point, all while diverting attention from other critical community needs.”

Montvale, in Bergen County, is expected to allow for 30 “prospective need” units, and 348 “present need” units, according to the state’s new guidelines.

Ghassali leads a bipartisan coalition of New Jersey mayors called “Local Leaders for Responsible Planning.” The group filed a lawsuit in September challenging the affordable housing law Murphy signed in March.

The coalition wants the state to pause the new law and the new affordable housing calculations, so the lawsuit can make its way through the court system, Ghassali said.

The mayors in the coalition allege the new affordable housing obligations go beyond the Mount Laurel requirements, calling the new law an “overreach.” Their amended lawsuit now includes 21 municipalities suing the state over the law.

The state was required to respond to the lawsuit last week, but filed a motion asking the court for a 30-day extension. The coalition did not agree to the extension, due to the approaching Jan. 31 deadline for municipalities to adopt the new affordable housing numbers, the coalition said.

The municipalities that sued the state “contend they will be irreparably harmed by having to comply with this new law over a narrow three-month period, all while substantial legal challenges to the law’s constitutionality are pending in court,” said Michael L. Collins, the coalition’s attorney.

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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com.