Displacement and Urban Reinvestment: A Mount Laurel Perspective

Abstract

This article discusses the continuing national debate concerning the responsibility that local governments should accept when residents are forced to leave their homes as a result of reinvestment activities encouraged by the cities and funded in part with public funds. The author explains the many different forms that reinvestment displacement may take and traces the legislative and judicial response to this issue. Despite what the author refers to as a considerable amount of buck passing, the article points out resources that are being made available to combat displacement. The article highlights the Supreme Court of New Jersey opinion in the Mount Laurel case that reaffirmed the moral and legal principle that local governments must consider the housing needs of affected citizens when they use the police power to regulate land use. The article concludes by suggesting that minimizing displacement can be accomplished if cities encourage reinvestment and place a higher priority on the interest of the long term residents of reinvestment areas. The major responsibility of such a task lies with state and local government who have developed the highly sophisticated reinvestment techniques that draw heavily on their police power.