© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WECS · WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM · WVOF
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Hundreds of affordable apartments to be built along Fairfield County’s shoreline

FILE: A worker makes his way across a construction site where affordable housing is being built in Norwalk in 2023.
Ryan Caron King
/
Connecticut Public
FILE: A worker makes his way across a construction site where affordable housing is being built in Norwalk in 2023.

More than 750 affordable apartments will soon be added to Connecticut’s rental supply, largely through state funding.

Six projects will be funded, across five communities. Fairfield County will receive the majority of the new housing, with nearly 400 new apartments in Norwalk, Stamford and Westport.

The roughly $118 million investment comes from the state Department of Housing (DOH) and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA).

While DOH supplied $25 million in loans and grants, CHFA provided Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) generating $93 million in private investments.

The projects also involve rehabilitating existing housing and lessening the pressure on the market for all renters, which can impact other aspects of residents’ lives, CHFA’s Managing Director of Multifamily Operations Pat Guliano said.

“That bleeds into everything, that bleeds into people's lives and jobs, and it all starts with a stable, safe and comfortable home, place to live,” Guliano said.

All of the apartments will be reserved for renters earning below their community’s average median income (AMI), ranging in affordability from those earning 20% AMI to residents earning 80% AMI.

Monterey Village and Wall Street Place, both located in Norwalk, received funding.

The Monterey Village development, in South Norwalk, will include 161 apartments reserved for residents earning below 60% AMI. Wall Street Place will have 155 apartments with a range of affordability for families earning between 20% and 80% AMI.

In Stamford, DOH and CHFA funds will go toward the first of a three-phrase redevelopment of Oak Park, which was built in the 1940s under the State Moderate Rental Program.

It includes a total of 61 units, 19 of which will use vouchers for very low-income households. All units will be affordable to households earning below 60% AMI.

A 19-unit complex of two- and three-bedroom apartments in Westport was also funded.

Guliano said the funding provided by the state and CHFA is vital to the growth of the housing market.

“If we're not doing this, then not only are we not putting new units out, but a lot of the work we do preserves the existing housing stock in the state, so we would also be losing ground on that,” Guliano said.

LIHTCs are administered in two forms: 4% and 9% tax credits, Guliano said. At 9%, those tax credits are more valuable, and are determined in a competitive application process early each year.

The 4% tax credits are administered on a rolling basis, and are taken from the state’s annual tax exempt bond allocation. However, in recent years, the state’s struggled to stretch the $500 million in tax exempt bond funding as far, Guliano said.

“When that runs out, we can't do any more deals, and we're actually starting to bump up against our cap, because these deals are getting so expensive,” Guliano said. “A lot of states have bumped up against their volume cap, primarily based on probably the last four or five years, where we've seen drastically increased development costs and fewer and fewer resources to go into them.”

More than 360 of the apartments being built are part of CHFA and DOH’s Build for CT program, which targets affordable housing options for middle-income renters, CHFA Executive Director Nandini Natarajan said.

"By leveraging programs like Build For CT and LIHTC, we’re not only providing quality, affordable housing for a wide range of income levels but also driving significant private investment into Connecticut’s neighborhoods,” Natarajan said.

Abigail is Connecticut Public's housing reporter, covering statewide housing developments and issues, with an emphasis on Fairfield County communities. She received her master's from Columbia University in 2020 and graduated from the University of Connecticut in 2019. Abigail previously covered statewide transportation and the city of Norwalk for Hearst Connecticut Media. She loves all things Disney and cats.

Fund the Facts

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.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

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.

Fund the Facts

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.

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