Connecticut’s lack of sewer infrastructure can be a barrier to affordable housing creation, which some argue is a convenient way to keep some communities across the state segregated.
Open Communities Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to changing discriminatory housing policies based on income, race and ethnicity, recently created a sewer system guide to help housing advocates navigate the challenges.
The guide also focuses on how a lack of sewer infrastructure can be a barrier to constructing multi-family housing, and affordable apartments, according to the Alliance’s policy director, Hugh Bailey.
“We really intended this for people who have run into this specific issue, and just to try to educate them on the different things that are possible,” Bailey said. “There's a lot you can do on existing infrastructure.”
The guide explains the differences between decentralized and centralized waste systems. Septic systems are decentralized while municipal sewers are centralized.
More than a quarter of Connecticut’s residents rely on septic systems.
The guide is intended to help understand workarounds when waste infrastructure capacity can be a barrier to constructing denser housing.
Lack of sewer infrastructure can be used as a convenient excuse to keep people of color or under-resourced families out of certain neighborhoods, Bailey said.
“When you understand the history of segregation and the extent to which some places were very intentionally not developed, those places have lots of resources in terms of high performing schools and other amenities,” Open Communities Alliance Erin Boggs said.
The disconnect between state sewer policies and housing goals reinforce the state’s housing segregation, Boggs said.
“There's a balance to be drawn between wanting to make sure there are housing choices for people of all incomes in all parts of the state, and protecting natural resources,” Boggs said. “Often, you're going to be protecting natural resources and helping the environment by promoting denser, more concentrated development and pushing back against large lot, sprawled, single family homes.”
