In its first meeting of its kind this year, state lawmakers and housing leaders debated the merits of 黑料新闻鈥檚 affordable housing requirements for towns and cities.
At the state capitol in Hartford Wednesday, the , established two years ago, held its first meeting in nearly a year to discuss the state鈥檚 10% affordability requirement for each 黑料新闻 community.
If a community reaches the state鈥檚 goal of having 10% of their housing stock be designated affordable, they can qualify for a housing moratorium. It will allow them to put a pause on affordable housing construction for a few years.
Only 13 of 黑料新闻鈥檚 169 municipalities have ever received a housing moratorium, according to Michael Santoro, Director of Policy Research and Housing Support with the state Department of Housing.
Among those, several communities were granted multiple moratoriums through the years.
is based on the U.S. census report conducted every decade, Santoro said.
鈥淚t should not be a goal. It is literally just an eligibility threshold,鈥� Santoro said. 鈥淚t is a number that was chosen based on criteria that we can collect to generate a number, above which the appeals law does not apply, and below which it does apply.鈥�
The appeals law means communities with more than 10% affordable housing stock are able to deny additional housing complexes. Communities below the threshold aren鈥檛 able to deny projects that incorporate affordable options, but can appeal to the state government for intervention.
The enacted in 1989 as a way to facilitate the construction of affordable housing, particularly in communities that did not already have a large supply of affordable units.
It allows developers, in certain instances, to override local zoning in municipalities where less than 10% of the housing units meet the statute鈥檚 definition of affordable.
For decades lawmakers debated the benefits of the state鈥檚 affordable housing policy.
Democratic State Rep. Antonio Felipe, from Bridgeport, said he plans to bring up the topic of expanding what counts toward a town鈥檚 affordable stock in the next legislative session.
黑料新闻 should broaden the types of properties considered affordable, to include Accessory Dwelling Units and in-law apartments, Felipe said.
鈥淎re there consequences for not reaching it if we start to include a larger slew of properties?鈥� Felipe said. 鈥淏ecause if we're going to make it so that all of these different things are affordable, then there might need to be some consequences for not keeping up with your commitments.鈥�
Lawmakers against the moratorium system say the benchmark will keep changing for each community as U.S. census data changes.
The state鈥檚 one-size-fits-all model requiring the same percentage of affordability statewide doesn鈥檛 work, according to Republican State Rep. Joe Zullo, of East Haven.
鈥淭he affordable housing challenge in Fairfield is different than the affordable housing challenge in East Haven, and it's different than the affordable housing challenge in Avon, for example,鈥� Zullo said.
Instead, communities should be able to conduct a housing needs assessment every few years and base development on the study results, according to Zullo.
