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New Haven welcomes new environmentally friendly, affordable townhomes

Officials hold a ribbon cutting ceremony unveiling a new affordable housing project at the Valley Townhomes on Valley Street June 28, 2024 in New Haven, Connecticut. (Front row left to right) CT Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno, State Representative Toni Walker U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) New Haven Alder Honda Smith, William Kilpatrick, Chairman of the Board, Housing Authority of New Haven and Suzanne Piacentini, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Eddy Martinez
/
Connecticut Public
Officials hold a ribbon cutting ceremony unveiling a new affordable housing project at the Valley Townhomes on Valley Street June 28,/2024 in New Haven, Connecticut. (Front row left to right) CT Department of Housing Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno, State Representative Toni Walker U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) New Haven Alder Honda Smith, William Kilpatrick, Chairman of the Board, Housing Authority of New Haven and Suzanne Piacentini, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

A new residential development promising to offset air pollution and offer affordable units is now ready for tenants in New Haven.

State and local officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Valley Townhomes on Valley Street. The townhomes are carbon neutral, meaning they offset greenhouse gas emissions.

The project is managed by a private and public partnership between the city public housing authority and developer, the Glendower Group.

Senator Richard Blumenthal attended the ribbon cutting and said the townhomes will help alleviate an affordable housing shortage.

“It's really 21st century affordable housing and built not just for today, but for decades to come,” Blumenthal said.

The townhomes consist of 40 units. Four of them are in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Thirty-two of the units, a mix between two, three and four bedroom homes, are considered affordable.Utilities are included with rent.

Yadira Vargas, a project manager with the Glendower Group and Elm City Communities, the city’s housing authority, says the rent for affordable units are income based.

“It's always 30% of their income. So for every resident it’s different,” Vargas said.

New affordable housing project at the Valley Townhomes on Valley Street June 28, 2024 in New Haven, Connecticut.
Eddy Martinez
/
Connecticut Public
New affordable housing project at the Valley Townhomes on Valley Street June 28,/2024 in New Haven, Connecticut.

The project broke ground in 2023 and came as the city promised to do more to increase affordability for residents. The initiative came as housing and rental prices increased during the pandemic, reversing years of increasing affordability, per previous reporting by Connecticut Public.

But according to Karen DuBois-Walton, the executive director of Elm City Communities, the city’s housing authority, around 40,000 people are now on a waiting list for affordable housing.

Dubois-Walton said more needs to be done, and highlighted several projects underway.

“We think the solution to the rising rents is to bring more inventory online,” DuBois-Walton said.

Tenants of the new Valley Townhomes are fortunate in that their rents are capped, and utilities are included which will be manageable due to energy efficient HVAC systems installed in each unit. All of the units, Vargas said, have since been rented out.

Tenants walked around the new units, and Vargas spoke by a playground, located by the offices. It means a lot to residents which existed for years on what used to be public housing where many of them once lived.

So it stays, she said.

“This was built by the residents themselves so we felt it was important to keep,” Vargas said.

Eddy Martinez is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for Connecticut Public, focusing on Fairfield County.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

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You just read trusted, local journalism that’s free for everyone, thanks to donors like you.

If that matters to you, now is the time to give. Join the 50,000+ members powering honest reporting and a more connected — and civil! — Connecticut.

Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.