Connecticut’s housing market is a hot issue this election season, and housing experts and lawmakers are looking at legislative ways to improve the market.
About a dozen housing experts, from home builders to town planners, gathered in Waterford recently to discuss ways to improve the housing crisis by increasing housing options and affordability.
Some of the recommendations include reducing the property tax rate and creating boarding homes as shelter alternatives.
Boarding houses are viable options for increasing housing stock and decreasing homelessness, according to New London Homeless Hospitality Center executive director Catherine Zall.
“I'm not saying we should go back to flop houses and places like that, but I think we just have to be realistic that reusing some of the existing stock more creatively will increase access and there’s other advantages,” Zall said.
The discussion was moderated by Democratic Congressman Joe Courtney, who represents Connecticut’s second U.S. House district. Courtney, who is also running for re-election, spoke about the importance of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expiring next year.
“Housing issues are going to be front and center, and the expiration of the tax laws provisions in 2025 is going to force a lot of these tax issues that affect housing to get voted on,” Courtney said.
The law increased deductions from taxes for individuals and allowed more families to qualify for the federal child tax credit.
As a representative for a large portion of eastern Connecticut, including Norwich, New London, Enfield and Groton, Courtney’s district encompasses much of the state’s historical industrial zones.
A continued investment in brownfield remediation was also proposed as a way to improve housing options.
The proposal for a rent cap, which was considered by local lawmakers in recent years, acts as a disincentive for housing construction and landlords, according to Susy Hurlbert, chief executive officer of the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors.
“We need tax incentives to build homes, to sell homes,” Hurlbert said. “As much as we very much appreciate the rising costs and people not being able to stay in their homes, rent control is a disincentive to landlords to add housing stock.”
Decreasing property tax rates and increasing the financial kickbacks for accepting housing voucher recipients as tenants were proposed by Hurlbert as ways to increase rental housing options.
“We definitely don't have a demand problem,” Hurlbert said. “How do we incentivize landlords to put their homes on the market for rent? That needs to be part of the conversation.”
