A broad housing bill designed to increase affordable housing is drawing criticism from conservative state lawmakers.
The bill touches on various aspects of affordable housing. Some of those aspects include limiting the use of “hostile architecture,” or structures designed to prevent an unhoused person from sitting or lying down, to requiring the collection of housing data for LGBTQ+ youth.
The bill is too extensive and doesn’t take into account individual towns and cities’ needs, according to Republican State Sen. Ryan Fazio, representing New Canaan, Greenwich and Stamford.
“There is some good in it, but I have significant concerns about the efforts to undermine local discretion for our municipalities over housing decisions,” Fazio said.
Fazio also voted against other housing-related bills, saying they lacked substance. He argued that similar proposals were already in motion.
“There are so many dozens of housing related bills that have already passed through the Housing Committee, the Planning and Development Committee and are now being referred to committees like this one,” Fazio said. “We’ve seen maybe dozens of different housing proposals and that’s all well and good, we should be addressing the issue. Hopefully we are doing so in a judicious way.”
The bill, approved by the state’s Housing Committee, was approved by the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee Monday, with 35 lawmakers voting in favor and 17 lawmakers voting against it. The bill required Finance Committee approval as it calls for almost $500 million in new state bonding. It moves next for consideration by the state’s House of Representatives.
State Rep. John Piscopo, a Republican who represents parts of Litchfield County, said the bill would fix a program that doesn’t need fixing.
“This seems to dictate what the Community Investment Fund is going to do in the future, and it's telling them what to approve, what not to approve in projects,” Piscopo said. “I don't like this kind of interaction.”
The bill would change the state’s Community Investment Fund to automatically provide funding for affordable housing projects, which helps financially support projects that foster economic development in underserved communities.
Piscopo said the State Bond Commission has already dedicated millions to addressing the state’s housing needs. He is concerned about designating another large sum to the cause.
Proponents of the bill say it addresses many of the ways Connecticut’s affordable housing can be bolstered.
“The solutions to weaknesses within our housing policies fall along a spectrum,” House Majority Leader Jason Rojas wrote in a statement of support. “They range from addressing regulatory barriers to allow for increased production to balancing the interests of property owners and tenants to allocate the necessary resources to meet the needs of our homelessness response system.”
