Affordable Housing
The State of Connecticut mandates every municipality to develop an affordable housing plan under C.G.S. §8-30j by June 1, 2022, to specify how they “intend to increase the number of affordable housing developments in the municipality.”
In lieu of all eighteen municipalities in the Western Connecticut Region duplicating efforts to research, document and analyze affordable housing, the Council of Governments decided to work collectively by splitting the work into two parts:
- Regional Toolbox
- Specific, Policy Driven Municipal Annexes.
Western Connecticut Regional Affordable Housing Toolbox
The Western Connecticut Regional Affordable Housing Toolbox is written as a resource for municipalities to reference when creating a policy driven Affordable Housing Plan. It reviews the common challenges municipalities in the region face when adding affordable housing such as the regional housing and employment markets, transportation and infrastructure limitations, and the economics of land availability in the region. It has a comprehensive housing needs assessment and zoning assessment done using a consistent approach for all eighteen municipalities. It also has strategy options that municipalities can consider for policies in their annex or separate plan, including zoning or subdivision regulation changes and financing options. It is important to note that there are several factors that influence the cost of housing that go beyond what municipalities can control on their own such as the price of materials and labor, state building code requirements, septic standards, access to financing options, borrowing and closing costs, to name a few that are also discussed in this document.
Municipal Annexes
The Municipal Annexes document the specific strategies that will be used to increase affordable housing and have been adopted by the municipality. Municipalities that have not already initiated their own municipal affordable housing plans or whose plans are now out of date have an annex, linked below. Municipal Housing Teams worked directly with WestCOG to write an affordable housing plan to meet the requirements under C.G.S. §8-30j. They include municipal-specific history relating to affordable housing, a breakdown of the type of affordable housing available, how many cost-burdened household there are and the municipal specific strategies that will be used to increase affordable housing.
Public Participation
The 30-day public comment period on the draft Plan concluded on April 20th, 2022. We appreciate everyone who took the time to provide written comments or attended one of the three public information sessions. You can view the presentation given at one of the public information sessions below: