OCA is looking for fair housing testers, where we help ensure that fair housing laws are being followed in Connecticut. Our next information session will be held on November 17. Interested people can learn how to become a tester, what the work entails, and why it’s so important for our state. We’re looking for people who are dependable, impartial, able to work independently, and have a few hours of flexibility during business hours.
Open Communities Alliance is a civil rights organization that works to redress generations of discriminatory actions and policies based on race, ethnicity, and income to create open and inclusive housing opportunities in historically exclusionary communities, and to bring investments and equitable policy change that generate meaningful improvements in under-resourced communities of color. Join us!
In The News
Nov 09, 2026
Until about a decade ago, people living in Bridgeport and Fairfield got the same amount of money for their housing vouchers, even though rent is much higher in Fairfield. The amount of aid through the federally-funded housing choice voucher program — better known as Section 8 — is determined by...
Nov 05, 2026
Last month, Connecticut’s Open Communities Alliance (OCA) released its most recent Resource Equity data map, showing which Connecticut municipalities it believes need the most state investment. First created in 2009 by the Kirwan Institute, OCA has updated the map every five to six years. Prior to the 2026 edition, the...
The Housing Record
Feb 26, 2026
The Affordable Housing Appeals Act, known colloquially as 8-30g, has long been a widely misunderstood law. It’s one of the few ways that affordable housing gets built in many of our most exclusionary Connecticut communities, but its effect is purely reactionary – it only comes into play when someone proposes...
Jan 29, 2026
The passage of HB 8002 late in 2025 was the culmination of a long struggle to pass meaningful housing reform in Connecticut. It was not the end of the political fight over affordable housing. Recent attacks from public officials and policy professionals make clear that this issue will remain in...
