Jag Davies 🌹

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

Opinion | Something Surprising Happens When Bus Rides Are Free

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...

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:

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.

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Fair Share Housing Center's Al-Tariq Witcher urges lawmakers to expand housing funding, reform outdated zoning laws, and strengthen tenant protections:

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.

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...

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.

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."

“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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

Statement from Executive Director Adam Gordon: “I’m honored to join Governor-Elect Mikie Sherrill and Lieutenant Governor-Elect Dale Caldwell’s transition team and to support the Sherrill-Caldwell administration as it prepares to take action on the housing challenges facing families across New Jersey. “Governor-Elect Sherrill focused her campaign on affordability and New Jersey’s voters agreed — addressing New Jersey’s housing crisis is a top priority. The Governor-Elect pledged to tackle outdated zoning laws that block homes from being built, end diversions from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, expand support for first-time and first-generation homebuyers, and crack down on landlords who subject families to unlivable conditions and discrimination. These are exactly the kinds of strategies New Jersey needs to close our state’s racial wealth gap and reduce costs for all New Jerseyans. “Thanks to New Jersey’s landmark new law streamlining and strengthening the Mount Laurel Doctrine, more towns than ever before are planning for and building affordable homes. Communities are already seeing the benefits: stronger local economies, revitalized public spaces, and more opportunities for families to put down roots. “Recent polling shows that New Jersey voters overwhelmingly support bold action on housing. With housing costs at record highs and federal funding cuts threatening thousands of New Jerseyans with eviction and homelessness, now is the moment for urgent, ambitious leadership. “I’m excited to bring Fair Share Housing Center’s research, policy expertise, and decades-long commitment to equity to the transition process, and to work with the Governor-Elect, Lieutenant Governor-Elect, and their team to deliver real action on housing that our communities need.”

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.

The letter calls on Governor-Elect Sherrill to strengthen New Jersey’s affordable housing framework by expanding the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, dedicating new revenue to preserve and build affordable homes, and advancing zoning reforms that allow for a greater variety of housing options across the state. The letter also urges the new administration to expand tenant protections to prevent evictions and homelessness, while creating more opportunities for BIPOC developers, protecting workers in the housing industry, and preventing the criminalization of homelessness.

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...

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.

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.

Bringing a Survey to a Gun Fight, Part I “Pollingism” Has Failed Democrats and Voters. Tuesday Showed the Power of Magnetism.

What the proponents of Pollingism simply cannot understand is that the purpose of politics is to enact an agenda, not simply to win for the sake of doing so.
contrarian.substack.com/p/bringing-a...

For any politician facing them, there are two ways of handling these attacks: by promising to care less about trans people or by promising to care more about everyone. If you are not responsive to the needs and interests of a broad coalition of working people, you can be more easily caricatured as dedicated to the interests of some nefarious (and often racialized) other. But if you do have a compelling vision for how to improve all people’s lives, the fact that not all of those people are the same carries less weight. It is true that many Americans would rather starve than share a table with someone they view as less deserving or too deviant from their own experience. But it’s especially true if all that’s on the menu is scraps.

I'm in @thenation.com this morning on the repeated failure of transphobia as political strategy, efforts to scapegoat trans people for Democrats' own failures, and Zohran Mamdani's model of solidarity

Opinion: Mamdani’s proposed Department of Community Safety would be a win for New Yorkers The proposal is well-grounded in existing best practices, and there is wide support for it among the public and City Council.

Mamdani has prioritized Public Safety throughout the campaign. By refusing to hire 5,000 more police, as proposed by Cuomo, he is saving the city hundreds of millions of dollars that can now be spent on real public safety. www.cityandstateny.com/opinion/2025...

Congratulations to Gov.-Elect @repsherrill.bsky.social!

NJ voters want bold action on housing — protecting tenants, expanding affordable housing, and reforming outdated zoning laws.

We look forward to working with the new administration to make housing a top priority from day one.

Our statement:

Affordable housing process survives NJ court challenge | NJ Spotlight News Judge dismisses claims by towns looking to avoid state plan for low-cost housing

A small group of wealthy towns tried to overturn New Jersey's landmark affordable housing law — and lost.

Thanks to the law, many more of NJ's municipalities are creating affordable housing than ever before.

Learn more in this informative piece by @njspotlightnews.org's @colleenodea.bsky.social:

How ICE Terror Campaigns Are Used to Discipline Labor While Chicago sees a surge of ICE detentions, workers are facing retaliation as immigrants when they advocate for their rights.

ICE is terrorizing immigrants—and being used as a tool to discipline labor. A witness in a wage theft case was detained. Immigrant warehouse workers face discrimination. Day laborers and street vendors are being targeted, and so are rapid response networks. My latest.

It's surprising that no other U.S. state has such strong requirements for affordable housing, despite all the many recent state-level housing and zoning reforms.

“Today, more than 400,000 New Jerseyans live in homes created through the Mount Laurel doctrine. Fifty years after the original ruling, it stands as one of the most durable and impactful examples of state constitutional law being used to confront structural inequality.”

This N.J. city just took an important step to keep rents from skyrocketing Passaic's new rent control ordinance cuts maximum annual increases in half and eliminates a loophole that allowed landlords to dramatically raise rents when tenants moved out.

Earlier this month, Passaic passed a new law that caps rent increases at 3% and ends vacancy decontrol.

Read more about the tremendous work by tenant organizers & @maketheroadnj.bsky.social to protect Passaic's residents from displacement and homelessness: www.nj.com/news/2025/09...

This is what is possible w/ state mandates for inclusion of a fair share of affordable housing, coupled w/ persistent enforcement. Not only inclusion on a building by building level, but town by town.
It doesnt just happen…

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.

NEW: As the housing affordability crisis deepens, NJ's 1975 high court decision outlawing exclusionary zoning serves as a powerful model for other states. @jagdavies.bsky.social new piece explores one of the most compelling examples of state constitutional law being used to promote civil rights.

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.

My new piece for @brennancenter.org's @statecourtreport.org looks at how New Jersey built the strongest statewide policy in the U.S. to *require* that every municipality create its fair share of affordable homes: 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.

NEW: This year marks the 50th anniversary of the NJ Supreme Court's Mount Laurel decision outlawing exclusionary zoning in the state. Jag Davies @fairsharehousing.bsky.social gives a fascinating account of the groundbreaking ruling & long fight over enforcement. statecourtreport.org/our-work/ana...

The best in the nation, thanks largely to the persistance of @fairsharehousing.bsky.social
As famous as the Mt Laurel doctrine is among affordable and fair housing advocates, if anything it is under appreciated recent advocates of zoning reform focused mostly on market rate housing and cities.

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.

Thanks to NJ's new law strengthening the Mount Laurel Doctrine, far more towns are creating affordable housing than ever before.

Excellent reporting on NJ's affordable housing requirements — the strongest in the U.S. — by @roshanabraham.bsky.social for @nextcity.org & @shelterforce.bsky.social:

The truth is simple: affordable housing benefits everyone.

Yet too often, policymakers sabotage NJ's economic resilience by under-funding affordable housing & blocking developments — deciding who belongs, and who doesn’t.

Read Rev. Eric Dobson's op-ed: www.burlingtoncountytimes.com/story/opinio...

Tremendous work in Passaic by tenant organizers & @maketheroadnj.bsky.social to protect residents from displacement.

This ordinance caps rent increases at 3% and ends vacancy decontrol, which has let landlords raise rents without limits when units become vacant.

www.northjersey.com/story/news/p...