JUDGES AS AGENTS OF SOCIAL-CHANGE - CAN THE COURTS BREAK THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING DEADLOCK IN METROPOLITAN-AREAS

Nowhere is the chasm between the races more apparent than in the physi cal division of metropolitan areas between inner-city poverty and subu rban affluence. Thus far, public policy efforts to introduce metropoli tan perspectives into local land use regulations have been unsuccessfu l. The series of New Jersey Mount Laurel decisions lays out a possible path for introducing comprehensive regional planning by deploying the constitutional power of state courts. Relying on the allied professio ns of economics and city planning, the New Jersey Supreme Court elimin ated the legal barriers to affordable housing in the suburbs. Question s have been raised over courts' ability to reform local government pow ers, but many traditional objections to the effectiveness of judicial reform seem to have been overcome in the New Jersey litigations and le gislations. State courts can play an indispensable role in solving reg ional land use problems if they secure the support of community leader ship groups.