In an effort to address Connecticut’s housing crisis, Gov. Ned Lamont is proposing three new bills and calling for billions of dollars to assist with the state’s housing needs.
Lamont requested more than $1 billion to go toward housing needs in his recently-proposed two-year state budget.
Along with the funding, Lamont is pushing for three housing-related bills in the Connecticut legislature to tackle issues of housing policy.
One of the bills proposed by Lamont, a Democrat, would remove “specific local barriers to housing development.”
The proposal would offer cities and towns “an easier path to a moratorium” under the state’s affordable housing appeals law. That law allows developers to challenge a town if it rejects an affordable housing project, even if it doesn’t meet local zoning rules.
But Sean Ghio, policy director with the housing advocacy nonprofit Partnership for Strong Communities, said that’s a potentially damaging trade-off.
“One of our concerns is trading away part of our state's affordable housing appeals law for promises, or in this case, zoning changes,” Ghio said. “People don't live in zoning changes. People don't live in plants, people live in homes.”
The two additional housing bills would make rental and property purchasing costs more transparent and create plans to develop housing in areas less at-risk for climate change impacts.
Lamont’s funding requests approach those of housing advocates, and include a recommended $5 million annually for eviction prevention and emergency homeless services. An additional $800 million is budgeted for state programs that rehabilitate and establish more affordable housing and homeownership opportunities in the state.
The governor’s funding places an emphasis on vulnerable communities, including elderly and families with young children. However, much of that funding is recommended for the 2027 fiscal year, a move Ghio said shouldn’t wait.
“It's hard to rent a home, and we know we have so many families and other vulnerable renters on the edge of homelessness or experiencing homelessness,” Ghio said. “Now there's really no reason to delay that increased funding.”
The proposed budget meets the legislature on their funding requests, more than any Lamont’s previously put forward, according to Bill Welz, with the government relations firm Gallo & Robinson.
“The governor did a solid job on producing a budget that gets closer on a lot of core issues that a lot of folks on this call have been lobbying for years,” Welz said.
In presenting his recommended biennium budget, Lamont said the state will support at-risk communities where support from the federal government is dwindling.
“The feds are pulling back on rent support, and at the same time strong demand and little inventory are driving up housing prices, and rents, and homelessness,” Lamont said.
Much of the state’s recent housing development focused on transit-oriented regions, which is a big topic of discussion during the current legislative session. The trend is expected to continue, pushing for a more walk-, rail- and bike-friendly state, Lamont said.
“Transit-oriented housing is being built big time in the [Naugatuck] Valley, thanks to more frequent rail service on the Waterbury Line, and along the New Britain Fastrak, and in New London, which is booming faster than any time since the heyday of whaling,” Lamont said.
