The primary purpose of this special meeting on June 30, was for Ventnor City to adopt resolutions related to its NJ state-mandated affordable housing obligations. The deadline for submitting their plan to NJ State was June 30, 2025.
See draft of Ventnor Affordable Housing plan below. (PDF)
This Ventnor ordinance stipulates that any future development providing 10 or more multi-family units would be required to include a 10% or 20% affordable housing set-aside.
For example, if 10 units are built, two would be ‘affordable’. This applies to sites under existing zoning, re-zoned sites, or sites allowed through a future agreement with the city.
Watch Ventnor Commission Affordable Housing Video; JUNE 30, 2025
Averting Builder’s Remedy Lawsuits: The primary goal of adopting this plan is to protect Ventnor City from builder’s remedy lawsuits.
If the city does not comply with its constitutional obligation to provide affordable housing, a builder could sue the city, and if successful, could develop multi-family units without the city having any zoning say in the matter.
The plan helps Ventnor City meet this mandated requirement, which has been the subject of litigation since the early 2000s and even earlier with the Mount Laurel case in 1975.
The resolutions aim to formalize Ventnor City’s plan for providing affordable housing and establish a municipal housing trust fund and spending plan.
Ventnor Planning Board, Affordable Housing, June 30, 2025:
Lance Landgraf: this was a rush project for us. We understand that. We were hopeful that we were not going to have this many um affordable housing requirements. It’s a difficult task to produce those units on a barrier island. We were hopeful that the number would get knocked down a little bit. It did not.
Landgraf: Ventnor hired an expert a couple of weeks ago to get this done. Today is the deadline for this. We want to be protected against builder’s remedy lawsuits where a builder could come say “You’re not providing affordable housing, I’m coming in. I’m suing you. I’m going to build as many units as I want and put 20% of that as affordable.”
Landgraf: Builders could buy a huge property, tear it down, and build a very large residential development with a very small 20% set aside for affordable housing. That’s what you want to avoid.
You don’t want affordable homes in just one section of Ventnor City.
Ventnor’s submitted plan is to spread these affordable homes throughout the city.
No info available on Margate’s affordable housing plan.
And now Ventnor will have a GHETTO! What is the NJ definition of affordable housing?
Good question.
10-20% of a building being set aside to ensure affordable housing makes it a ghetto? There are plenty of seniors and others who live here right now that need such housing. How troubling it is that someone like you that turns that standard into creating a ghetto.
NJ has so many municipalities which raises the costs to everyone. Affordable housing is a statewide problem that needs statewide solutions. Asking the local municipality to fix this is not cost effective. Land, transportation and infrastructure are factors that need consideration.
I don’t see too many remaining lots in Ventnor where you’d have a multi-family, ten unit structure capability.
And what’s to prevent developers from keeping their plans to an eight-pack, and avoid the whole affordable housing issue altogether?
I encourage everyone commenting to read and understand the Housing Element and Affordable Housing plan. It’s available on our website. It does not build Housing. It does create the opportunity for more Affordable Housing in our city to be constructed.
Lastly, it is a state mandated requirement that no prior administration had addressed. These requirements have been in place since the 1980’s, with various pauses due to litigation.
Our administration has been discussing ways to address the requirements and once the final numbers were confirmed by our planning consultant, we took the necessary action to be in compliance with these state mandates.
Ventnor Commissioner Lance Landgraf
Shalom House satisfied our affordable housing requirements in the past. We have several {Sober Living} Oxford houses here in Ventnor. They should count towards our required numbers of affordable housing units. They are equivalent to rooming houses.