A bipartisan effort to construct more affordable starter homes across Connecticut is being considered by state lawmakers.
Eighty percent of Connecticut’s renters can’t afford to buy a home in the current housing market, according to Jim Perras, Chief Executive Officer of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Connecticut.
The Homes for CT program, which incentivizes builders to create more affordable housing, could be an answer to the state’s housing crisis, according to Perras.
“Housing affordability is a top reason why professionals are leaving Connecticut, and we can help change that today,” Perras said. “Homes for Connecticut Loan Program is a fiscally responsible, market driven solution. If passed, it will remove barriers for builders, while ensuring homes remain attainable for Connecticut families.”
Homes for CT would offer low-cost financing for home builders to construct single-family starter homes. As of last year, the median priced home in Connecticut is about $400,000, according to Alexa Kebalo, president-elect of the Connecticut Association of Realtors.
The Homes for CT program has garnered bipartisan support, and is also being endorsed by realtors and home builders.
The houses would be sold to buyers through the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA), ensuring they’d be made affordable, according to Democratic State Rep. Jason Doucette, who represents Glastonbury and Manchester.
“The way it is drafted now is that it would be basically 100% affordable, every unit that is created through this program,” Doucette said. “From an administrative standpoint, there is less work to do for the developers, for the municipalities.”
The program would operate alongside the successful Build for CT program, which is geared toward increasing construction for affordable multi-family rental properties.
“Build for CT is just geared towards multi family rental housing. The single family market is a totally different animal,” Doucette said. “It will work as a companion program. CHFA would administer both programs.”
CHFA typically sells homes to residents earning up to 120% of the Area Median Income (AMI), and most CHFA homes across the state have a maximum sales price of about $530,000, Doucette said.
Establishment of the program was up for a public hearing in the Banking Committee Thursday, but has not yet gone up for a vote.
The Homes for CT program would help builders save on construction costs and buyers get a reasonably priced starter home, Republican State Rep. Tom Delnicki, of South Windsor, said.
“That's what it's all about, the American Dream, the opportunity to be able to live in your own home and to prosper and to have a family and set your roots in Connecticut,” Delnicki said
