Officials in Mansfield have eased restrictions on who can rent affordable housing at an upscale apartment development near the University of Connecticut after the owner struggled to fill the units.
Members of the Mansfield Planning and Zoning Commission agreed this week to temporarily expand eligibility for income-restricted housing at The Standard at Four Corners.
For a period of two years, the town will permit older students and those with families to rent affordable apartments.
The change will enable more graduate students to reside in the development — a category town officials said they overlooked when developing guidelines that prioritize non-student families.
"It didn't cross our minds," Commission Chairperson Paul Aho said at an April 6 meeting. "Maybe it should have, but it didn't cross our minds that a graduate student family might want to live in there, and that graduate student families are families also."
With rental housing in Mansfield in short supply, The Standard drew strong interest from students when it opened last year. However, apartments reserved for renters with moderate to low incomes remain largely empty.
Under guidelines in place when the project was permitted in February 2022, The Standard was required to include 35 affordable apartments, which are available to households earning up to 80% of the area median income. An additional 17 are priced as workforce units, available to households earning up to 120% of area median income.
To date, only 11 of the affordable units have tenants, and none of the workforce units are rented.
With vacancies lingering, developer Landmark Properties asked the town in February to modify its rules. The company proposed paying a one-time fee in exchange for eliminating the workforce units. It also sought to lift income restrictions on about half of the affordable units, and to reclassify others as low-income housing.
Town officials determined those moves aren't allowed under Mansfield's housing rules. However, they granted a third request to expand eligibility criteria for students.
Students were previously required to meet the same requirements imposed under the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program. Households made up entirely of full-time students generally cannot qualify, with some exceptions, such as single parents.
The town granted Landmark's request to ease those restrictions, aligning them instead with eligibility rules under the federal section 8 program. Doing so allows more students to qualify, including those who are married, have served in the military or are age 24 or older.
During a hearing in March, an attorney for Landmark Properties pointed out graduate students, such as those at UConn's nursing school, might face increased financial needs in the years ahead, given changes to federal funding and loan programs for higher education.
Members of the commission voted unanimously to grant the request, with one abstention.
"I can understand the idea of, you know, holding their feet to the fire," the chairperson said, "but I also see the point of bringing in some graduate families to help fill those spaces."
