Housing markets are regional. That's why New Jersey's fair share housing policy — which requires every municipality to create affordable homes — is so important. My new piece, co-authored with Results for America's Brittany Giroux Lane, shows why other states can — and should — build on NJ's model:

With New, Clear Statewide Rules, New Jersey Towns Are Creating Affordable Homes Instead of Fighting Them

By requiring every municipality to create its fair share of affordable homes, the Garden State offers a compelling model for other states to build on.

thedepartmentofwhatworks.substack.com

Today, Governor Sherrill signed the FAIR Act into law, making New Jersey a national leader in protecting renters from algorithmic rent-setting software. Artificial intelligence shouldn't be used to coordinate rent hikes and make the housing crisis worse. Learn more: www.nj.gov/governor/new...

Publicly-owned social housing has a proven track record around the world. Hudson County's plan to build a new mixed-use community on county-owned land — with hundreds of permanently affordable homes — is exactly the kind of innovative strategy we need. Learn more: gothamist.com/news/could-a...

Could a plan to build hundreds of affordable apartments in Jersey City be a model for the state?

County officials have a plan to turn old parking lots in Jersey City into affordable housing.

gothamist.com

“This isn't only an issue of fairness & transparency — it’s a civil rights issue,” said Fair Share Housing Center's Al-Tariq Witcher. “Algorithmic rent-setting software perpetuates housing inequities and makes it even harder for historically marginalized communities to access affordable homes."

The Jersey Vindicator@jerseyvindicator.bsky.social · last mo.

Legislature sends FAIR Act to Gov. Sherrill, advancing ban on algorithmic rent-setting software

"Cross age with race and the generational law that has defined politics in the Mamdani Era snaps into focus...it is the signature of a multi-racial, cross-generational coalition." - @michaellangenyc.bsky.social www.michaellange.nyc/p/when-narra...

When Narratives Meet Facts

The anatomy of a political earthquake — and the failed efforts to discredit it

michaellange.nyc

Too often, families are denied access to affordable housing because of low credit scores caused by unaffordable housing itself. Today, the NJ Senate passed legislation to limit over-reliance on credit scores and require a fuller, fairer review of applicants. Next stop: the Assembly.

Historic milestone for affordable housing in NJ: 401 municipalities have now adopted final implementing ordinances for affordable housing plans — the broadest compliance in the Mount Laurel Doctrine's 50-year history. Learn more in today's press release: www.fairsharehousing.org/press-releas...

Thousands of Nepali immigrants in the U.S. as part of a humanitarian relief program have found their work and healthcare in limbo after a Trump order.

Nepali TPS Holders Navigate Job Loss and Legal Uncertainties Ahead of Supreme Court Ruling -

Thousands of Nepali immigrants in the U.S. as part of a humanitarian relief program have found their work and healthcare in limbo after a Trump order.

documentedny.com

The anti-data center movement isn’t just about limiting local development—it represents a new front in the fight against tech-enabled authoritarianism. Where else can people push back on job-eating algorithms, distorting deep fakes, and autonomous drone strikes? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The fight against AI data centers isn’t just about tech – it’s about democracy | Astra Taylor and Saul Levin

Claims of nimbyism are a misunderstanding: the movement is about whether regular people have a say in fundamental decisions

theguardian.com

A new article in @thenation.com on a small-but-influential group opposing affordable housing shows exactly why NJ’s Mount Laurel framework is so important. “Defend historic Princeton… it’s Make America Great Again,” said Adam Gordon. “It’s this romantic vision of a past that didn’t really exist.”

In Princeton, a Housing Plan Sparks a Neighborhood War

What a battle over a mixed-use development in a historic town reveals about liberal America.

thenation.com

NEW: 20+ states have introduced anti-homeless laws. This isn’t a coincidence. The surge of bills is part of a coordinated campaign driven by Palantir billionaires. But we're fighting back. 17 states have introduced bills to protect the rights of our unhoused neighbors. Learn more:

20+ states introduced anti-homeless laws - Housing Not Handcuffs

Right now, 22 states across the country are considering (or have recently considered) new anti-homeless laws. This surge of bills we’re seeing in state after state is part of a coordinated national…

buff.ly

NEW: The Commie Corridor didn't happen overnight. Neither will its sequel. No Congressional District in America has more renters than NY-13. Zohran won it by 20 points last June. Adriano Espaillat has outlasted everyone. But his district is changing: open.substack.com/pub/michaell...

The Next Commie Corridor?

Adriano Espaillat has outlasted everyone. His district is changing anyway.

open.substack.com

Mount Laurel Doctrine (& @feathersmcg.bsky.social) FTW! Unlike New York, New Jersey *requires* every municipality to create its fair share of affordable homes—and a new law gives it real teeth. Many other states could benefit from a framework like New Jersey's: statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

Mount Laurel at 50: New Jersey’s Blueprint for Dismantling Residential Segregation

Fifty years ago, the New Jersey Supreme Court created a groundbreaking affordable housing framework. A new law gives it real teeth.

statecourtreport.org

Open New York@opennewyork.org · 4mo ago

The current 12-game Jeopardy champion works at an affordable housing finance agency in NJ, and shamed New York for not building more housing: "NJ's doing really well, we're ahead of NY, CT, PA. If you're from one of those states, shame on you, build more housing."

A new @rpa.org report shows New Jersey vastly outpacing neighboring regions in both affordable housing & overall housing production — thanks to NJ's Mount Laurel Doctrine. Neighboring areas without a fair share system have experienced faster housing cost increases and worsening overcrowding.

New Jersey's groundbreaking affordable housing law is delivering results. The vast majority of municipalities are now creating new affordable homes — and many are using smart redevelopment strategies to integrate and revitalize communities. Today's @washingtonpost.com takes a closer look:

An Ivy League town faces bitter battle over effort to stamp out segregation

New Jersey’s statewide battle over growth, rooted in a once loosely enforced 1970s law against racial segregation, has turned “vicious” in Princeton.

washingtonpost.com

Moderate Democrats with columns in newspapers are constantly saying the Democratic Party is way too liberal on "social" issues. Moderate Democratic voters in real life do not feel this way. With some polling data from @gelliottmorris.com and @dataforprogress.org. newrepublic.com/article/2074...

Guess What Moderate Democratic Voters Aren’t Anymore? Moderate.

Two new polls suggest that moderate Democrats, too, want higher taxes on the rich and some measure of economic populism. Moderate isn’t what it was in 1992.

newrepublic.com

In a new op-ed for @nj.com, our ED Adam Gordon lays out why state leaders should build on NJ's landmark affordable housing law — by expanding housing funding, reforming zoning laws, and strengthening tenant protections. After last week’s SCOTUS win, the moment is now. www.nj.com/opinion/2026...

Big news: The U.S. Supreme Court just REJECTED an emergency appeal attempting to block NJ’s landmark new affordable housing law — which requires every municipality to create its fair share of new affordable homes. Learn more in our press release: www.fairsharehousing.org/press-releas...

Your weekend long read: Local cops and their union bosses have welcomed - and in some cases invited - Trump’s federal takeovers of US cities. @stschrader1.bsky.social traces this alarming synthesis of local & federal power for The New York Review archive.is/G1Bnh

There's a few likely consequences of having free buses...and they will probably surprise you! Really happy to be able to share this perspective today in the New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/o...

Opinion | Something Surprising Happens When Bus Rides Are Free

nytimes.com

New Jersey’s new affordable housing law is proving the naysayers wrong. Today we announced that 380 municipalities now have compliant housing plans — an unprecedented level of participation in NJ's affordable housing process. Learn more in our press release:

New @nj.com op-ed: The choices made in NJ's lame duck session could decide whether thousands stay housed — or face eviction. Fair Share Housing Center's Al-Tariq Witcher urges lawmakers to expand housing funding, reform outdated zoning laws, and strengthen tenant protections:

N.J.’s housing crisis won’t wait, and neither should lawmakers. | Opinion

Imagine choosing between rent and medicine. That’s reality for too many New Jersey families. Lawmakers can act or watch the crisis deepen.

nj.com

how do black immigrants experience the intersections of the u.s.'s criminal and immigration legal systems? i explore the foundations and manifestations of xenophobic, anti-black racism in policing, incarceration and deportation in my latest piece. you can read it here: prospect.org/2025/12/12/v...

The Vulnerability of Black Immigrants - The American Prospect

Black immigrants are more likely to be deported, in part because of their contact with the criminal justice system.

prospect.org

Thanks to New Jersey's new law strengthening the Mount Laurel Doctrine, many more municipalities are creating affordable homes than ever before. "It’s not going to solve all of our housing problems, but it’s really stronger than any other state’s affordable housing requirements."

Fifty Years After Mount Laurel, Affordable Housing Is Gaining Ground in New Jersey

A 2024 law codifying the state’s Mount Laurel doctrine is speeding up construction and shifting local politics, even as lawsuits linger.

nextcity.org

If you want a broader look at the role the lack of stable housing is playing in the child welfare system nationwide, check out @brycecovert.bsky.social's incredible overview in @thenation.com. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

“Nobody Blames the Landlord. They Just Take Away the Kids.”

All too often, when parents can’t afford safe housing, the solution child welfare services offer is putting their children in foster care.

thenation.com

Wrote this piece for @newrepublic.com with Professor Brandon Marshall about how the overdose crisis is driven by poverty and how harm reduction measures get the blame for larger structural problems they aren't designed to fix. We need economic populism and economic justice.

People, Place and Health Collective @pphcollective.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Collective members Professor Brandon Marshall and Abdullah Shihipar write about viewing the overdose crisis as one driven by material suffering and explain that pursuing economic justice can have a real impact in reducing overdose deaths. newrepublic.com/article/2031...

Zohran showed that a socialist can take City Hall—but the ruling class still forced him to keep Jessica Tisch at the NYPD. For Zohran to fight the police unions and win, the Left has to build power beyond the ballot box. New from me for The Nation: www.thenation.com/article/poli...

If We Want Mamdani to Beat the NYPD, the Left Must Build Power

We won’t be able to push Mamdani, or anyone else, to undermine police power unless we become a force to be reckoned with.

thenation.com

Today, Gov.-Elect Sherrill appointed our executive director, Adam Gordon, to her Transition Team. "With housing costs at record highs and federal funding cuts threatening thousands of families with eviction and homelessness, now is the moment for urgent, ambitious leadership," said Gordon.

Today, 158 orgs sent a letter to Gov.-Elect @mikiesherrill.bsky.social urging her to prioritize housing justice. Amid soaring costs & devastating federal cuts, we need bold policies to protect tenants & expand affordable homes. Learn more & read the letter: www.fairsharehousing.org/press-releas...

Excellent news from Connecticut! Their housing bill builds on the success of New Jersey's experience — requiring most of the state's municipalities to create housing plans that include a certain amount of affordable housing based on regional needs.

Housing bill gets final approval from CT Senate in special session

Housing has long been a politically charged issue in Connecticut and one of the issues that most divides Republicans and Democrats.

ctmirror.org