Connecticut communities were praised for increasing their affordable housing stock during the third annual housing conference hosted by the state’s Department of Housing. However, state lawmakers debated what it would take to get the sweeping housing bill passed
For more than an hour, leading state lawmakers at the Connecticut Housing Conference at Foxwoods Resort Casino Thursday, hashed out what needs to change for the omnibus housing bill, to be passed after it was vetoed earlier this year by Gov. Ned Lamont.
The bill didn’t leave enough localities enough freedom and decision making, according to Lamont.
While Democratic State Sen. and Rep. Majority Leaders Bob Duff and Jason Rojas previously discussed potential changes to the housing bill, the subject became more concrete with the upcoming Nov. 12 special session.
“It's about a 100 page bill, right? We are actually disagreeing about 15 pages of the 100 pages,” Rojas said. “So 85 pages, nobody actually has an issue with those.”
The state’s “Fair Share” policy is the root of much discord between Democrats and Republicans over the bill. The policy urged Connecticut municipalities to contribute their “fair share” in adding affordable housing to their community as part of the state’s affordable housing mandate. It required towns and cities to adopt an affordable housing plan every five years.
“We're talking about fair share and trying to ensure that towns put together plans that are actually informed by data and actually have actual goals in them and actually have accountability measures in them,” Rojas said. “Otherwise, why do any of this if there's no accountability?”
Opponents of the bill said it takes too much zoning and development control away from communities.
Democrats are close to brokering a deal with Republicans, Rojas said.
But, Democrats are unwilling to put forward a weakened version of the housing bill, Duff said.
“The policy needs and the needs of families and individuals in the state outweigh the value of taking an incremental approach,” Duff said.
The new iteration of the housing bill will cut back restrictions on parking needs for housing developments and give more leeway for towns on where housing is constructed.
"We don't want planning and zoning to make parking an impediment to housing," Lamont said. "I'd like to focus more on old parking lots and brownfields, shopping centers, not simply taking five acres of open space."
Discussions included how local land use impacts communities’ abilities to build, new ways to try to solve homelessness and how to make affordable housing construction less risky for developers.
The conference opened with Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz laying out recent, local affordable developments.
Several communities are already chipping away at Connecticut’s affordable housing need.
Bysiewicz highlighted the work of New London, New Haven, West Hartford, Newington and Norwalk.
“There's a myth out there that if your town has affordable housing in it, that somehow that affordable housing makes that town or city undesirable, and the exact opposite is true,” Bysiewicz said. “Look at West Hartford. The more affordable housing they build, the more diverse people that live in that community, and the more that people want to live there.”
