Ethel Lawrence

Ethel Robinson Lawrence (March 16, 1926 - July 19, 1994) was a civil rights activist who was known as the "Rosa Parks of affordable housing". In her final years, Lawrence worked closely with attorney Peter O'Connor to start the non-profit organization Fair Share Housing Development Inc., which built over 200 units for moderate- to low-income tenants in Mount Laurel. Lawrence's ancestors had resided in Mount Laurel since the nineteenth century when her slave ancestors had used the Underground Railroad stations organized by the Quakers who had made the Mount Laurel area a sanctuary to runaways during the Civil War. Growing up, Lawrence attended the segregated school on Moorestown-Mount Laurel Road. Lawrence's mother, Mary, was a religious and civic-minded woman who instilled similar values in all her children. At her mother's urging, sixteen-year-old Lawrence, with other African American youth, demanded to be seated in the "whites only" section of a local movie theater. However, Lawrence persisted in her civic work because she believed that her family, and her neighbors' families, had the same rights to affordable housing as the new wealthy, suburban residents.

Mount Laurel I Lawrence was an officer, pianist, and director of the Young People's Dept. (YPD) of Jacob's Chapel, A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Church in Mount Laurel. Around 1960, Mount Laurel officials were condemning and tearing down the substandard homes of many "lower income" people; however, no efforts were made to assist them in relocating elsewhere in Mount Laurel. As a result, Lawrence, along with Reverend Stuart Wood and other church members, formed a non-profit corporation, called The Springville Community Action Committee, to develop low- and moderate-income housing. In 1969, the Township zoning board denied the 36-unit housing project proposed by the Action Committee, with Bill Haines, the Mayor at the time, saying, "If you people can't afford to live in our town, then you'll just have to leave."

Outraged, the Committee sued. At Camden Regional Legal Services, three young lawyers—Peter O'Connor, Carl Bisgaier, and Ken Meiser—took on their case, with Lawrence agreeing to be the lead plaintiff. The lawsuit accused the township of using its zoning laws to discriminate against poor residents. In 1975, the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled in favor of Lawrence, in a ruling called Mount Laurel I.

However, in 1976, in response to the ruling, Mount Laurel Township changed its zoning law, allowing the low-income housing project to be built, but on unstable, swampy land.

Mount Laurel II In 1983, the Supreme Court of New Jersey again ruled in favor of Lawrence and the other plaintiffs, in a ruling known as Mount Laurel II. In the second ruling, the courts specified how many units of affordable housing should be built in the township, and instructed lower court judges to set similar goals for other towns. Lawrence was named the charter president of the board of trustees of the company. According to their website: "The mission of Fair Share Housing Development (FSHD) is to promote economically and racially diverse communities throughout the tri-county region surrounding the City of Camden, New Jersey through the development of affordable housing with supportive services in an effort to improve the lives of moderate-income, low-income and very low-income families, the elderly and disabled and to reverse decades of decline and segregation in the City of Camden by providing Camden City residents with the choice to reside in affordable housing in high-opportunity communities with access to decent jobs, good schools, and a safe environment." In May 1994, Lawrence's daughter Ethel Lawrence-Halley was named administrator of the Mount Laurel project.

However, Lawrence would not live to see the township grant final approval for the construction of 100 subsidized townhouses to Fair Share Housing, the first phase of Ethel R. Lawrence Homes (ERLH). It wasn't until 1997 that the Mount Laurel Planning Board finally approved the nonprofit's request to build. Following the first phase, two other phases were built in 2003 (ERLH II - 40 units) and 2018 (ERLH III - 36 units). A nearby development in Mount Laurel called Robinson Estates (named after Ethel's mother Mary) features 24 single-family homes, a rarity in affordable housing, and was also built in 2018, as part of the redevelopment project that led to the construction of ERLH III.

Lawrence died from cancer on July 19, 1994, at the age of 68.