Jersey City Council members Jake Ephros and Eleana Little have introduced an ordinance that would amend municipal code Chapter 260 to close a long-standing gap in the city's rent control rules, capping the exemption period for buildings in council-approved redevelopment areas at 30 years instead of letting it run indefinitely. The proposal would bring those properties in line with the exemption available to newly built multiple dwellings under state law, which is limited to the lesser of the initial mortgage amortization period or 30 years after construction.
As reported by Hudson County View, Ephros said the measure is meant to preserve affordability for tenants, while Little argued that buildings built under traditional zoning and those built within redevelopment plans should not be treated as separate classes under the law. Little noted the ordinance still preserves the state-law exemption, which is capped at the lesser of the initial mortgage amortization period or 30 years after construction, mirroring the protections already written into New Jersey's Newly Constructed Multiple Dwellings Law.
That state statute, enacted in 1987 and codified at N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.1 et seq., exempts new residential buildings of four or more units from municipal rent control for no longer than the initial mortgage amortization period or 30 years after construction, whichever is less, so long as the owner files a written exemption claim with municipal construction officials at least 30 days before getting a certificate of occupancy. Jersey City's own code currently exempts buildings of four or fewer units from rent control altogether, caps annual increases at the lesser of CPI or 4% for larger buildings built before June 25, 1987, and grants an explicit, indefinite exemption to new buildings of 25 or more units located in council-approved redevelopment areas, according to Platuni.
Sponsors Say the Loophole Treats Similar Buildings Unequally
Little said that under the existing redevelopment plan exemption, buildings built within those plans would effectively never become subject to rent control. The ordinance would change that going forward, making redevelopment-plan buildings subject to rent control after 30 years just like traditionally zoned construction, per the Hudson County View report. Ephros added that redevelopment-area buildings should receive no additional rent-control exemption once their 30-year window expires.
The sponsors were careful to stress that the change would not be retroactive. It would not lower rents in buildings already more than 30 years old back down to what they were at the 30-year mark, and it would only apply going forward.
A September 2025 study from the Rutgers Law School Center on Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity concluded that New Jersey's 30-year state rent control exemption, originally meant to spur housing supply when it was enacted in 1987, may no longer be necessary given other development incentives now available, according to Rutgers Law School CLiME. Ephros and Little received endorsements from the Working Families Party.
Administration Says It Needs More Time to Review
Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa said the ordinance needed an in-depth review before the council moves forward, and acting Corporation Counsel Lisa Scorsolini said the law department was preparing a legal memorandum on the measure to deliver the following day. Jersey City Business Administrator Ruby Choi said one week was not enough time for the administration to provide a substantial response and that more discussion was needed.
Councilman-at-Large Rolando Lavarro asked whether affordable housing leases must be renewed when they expire, a question Ward B Councilman Joel Brooks said would likely depend on building-specific deed restrictions. Isaac Smith, Mayor James Solomon's senior policy advisor, said buildings with an affordable PILOT generally carry 30-year affordability requirements that end when the deed restriction expires. Councilman-at-Large Michael Griffin asked whether removing affordable units after a 30-year tax break would violate a redevelopment plan, citing Journal Square's affordable housing plan approved in August 2024. Council President Denise Ridley suggested colleagues submit their questions to the ordinance sponsors and relevant departments before deciding whether to proceed.
Fiscal Questions and a Broader Housing Fight
Little acknowledged the proposal could create a small future tax-revenue opportunity cost as buildings are reassessed under rent control, but said that impact could potentially be offset by more new development. She said she wants to pair the rent control change with policies that cut red tape, adding she has no desire to stop development growth. Little also flagged an unresolved concern about whether a later property purchaser would receive a fresh 30-year exemption or whether the clock would still run from the building's original construction date. Ephros said he was open to consulting pro-housing advocates on the proposal, though he noted no such conversations had yet taken place.
The ordinance has received at least one round of legal review from the law department so far, and arrives amid a wider push by City Hall to tighten rent control enforcement. In September 2026, Mayor James Solomon launched a citywide audit and interactive map identifying more than 1,700 properties encompassing over 20,000 residential units that lack documentation of a rent-control exemption, a project Hoodline covered in its rent control audit report. The council passed Ordinance 26-028 on introduction on May 6, 2026, and adopted it on May 20, 2026, reclassifying tenant utility charges such as Ratio Utility Billing Systems as rent subject to the city's annual increase caps, per Platuni's reporting.
Enforcement questions around rent control exemptions have already landed Jersey City landlords in court. Tenants at the city's 527-unit Portside Towers complex filed a $400 million federal class-action lawsuit in July 2024 against landlord Equity Residential, alleging more than two decades of unlawful rent hikes after the company claimed a redevelopment area exemption despite construction predating the redevelopment plan's approval, according to Jersey Digs. A 2022 appellate ruling in Willow Ridge Apartments v. Union City Rent Stabilization Board separately established that property owners forfeit their 30-year state exemption if they fail to strictly file written exemption statements with municipal officials at least 30 days before receiving a certificate of occupancy, as detailed by CSG Law.
Notably, Ephros and Little also voted against the city's long-standing five-year tax abatement program for new residential construction when the council defeated that measure 3-6, according to Hudson Realty Group. The Jersey City Council will take up the rent control ordinance at its regular meeting Wednesday at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 280 Grove St., with the session also streaming live on Microsoft Teams.
