Ways to increase and incentivize housing construction in Connecticut sparked hours of discussion at the state capitol Tuesday.
Nearly five hours of public hearing in the general assembly’s housing committee revolved around ten bills aimed at studying affordable housing and developing more units.
The state needs to free up more funding to help the homeless and remove barriers for residents in need of affordable housing, Kara Capone, Chief Executive Officer of the homeless services nonprofit Community Housing Advocates, said.
“It varies by region. We’ve heard a lot of people from Fairfield County. It is incredibly unaffordable in Fairfield County,” Capone. “In order for you to afford a two bedroom rent in Fairfield County you’d have to work the equivalent of three full time jobs at state minimum wage.”
Proposed bills include annual reports on housing assistance waitlists, incentivizing the transformation of commercial space into housing, establishing a statewide affordable housing construction fund and a study of the affordable housing appeals process.
Gov. Ned Lamont has previously stated Connecticut is in need of 89,000 additional affordable housing units to meet demand.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker says municipalities need the state to step in and help lessen the housing affordability crisis.
“We can’t do it alone,” Elicker said. “The higher cost of redeveloping urban land coupled with higher interest rates and construction costs are making it more and more difficult to build affordable housing.”
About 1,900 housing units have been built in New Haven since 2020, around 900 of which are affordable, Elicker said.
“Our residents, as many across the state, are faced with a very high cost of housing right now and it’s leading us to build a lot more units,” Elicker said. “We’re really leaning into this challenge that the state has in our housing crisis and lack of affordable housing.”
