Church Street Commons in Hebron will have dozens of apartments at different rates.

The housing will be on land owned by St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. Kolanowski is the rector, but most just call him Father Ron.

“We own all this land on this side of the street,” Kolanowski said. “How are we using this huge resource for mission and ministry? What is God calling us to do, to actually use this?”

The land is located close enough to Hebron’s town center to utilize the limited municipal sewer system. It’s a town where many homes rely on well water.

Hundreds of people testified Tuesday on a slew of bills aimed at protecting Connecticut tenants, including measures to reform eviction law and others that would limit how much landlords can charge for a security deposit and what crimes can be considered when renters apply to live in an apartment.

Tuesday’s public hearing put two of the Housing Committee’s most politically difficult subject areas on display: zoning and landlord-tenant relationships.

Gov. Ned Lamont’s biennial budget address on Wednesday sparked mixed reactions, with housing policy advocates like Open Communities Alliance (OCA) offering both recognition and suggestions for moving forward.

OCA, a Hartford-based nonprofit focused on advancing housing opportunities across Connecticut, commended Lamont for prioritizing the housing crisis, a major concern for residents statewide.

“We will continue investing $400 million per year in housing – workforce, affordable, supportive, and multi-family,” Lamont stated. “People want to live in Connecticut, and the only thing holding us back is a lack of housing. Last year, we built 70% more homes than eight years ago, and we will keep expanding our Time to Own program, which has already helped over 5,000 first-time homeowners – from Stafford Springs to Danbury – build wealth and invest in their communities.”

A proposed bill that would require Connecticut cities and towns to plan and zone for a set number of new housing units is gaining traction in Hartford.

The “Towns Take the Lead” bill is one of several proposed this legislative session by Growing Together Connecticut, a consortium of over 45 organizations working to break down barriers to affordable housing.

Advocates and key lawmakers said Monday they want to see towns plan and zone for a set number of new housing units — a policy that would be enforced by the state government — as one of several measures meant to make sure families can afford a place to live.

The proposal, which resembles sections of a fair share plan proposed in the past, was part of the legislative agenda shared by Growing Together Connecticut, a consortium of advocates and religious groups, during a press conference in Hartford.

Connecticut has the most constrained housing supply in the nation, with only about a 7% vacancy rate despite a demand for more, and the state needs at least 110,000 more units to meet the need, researchers told lawmakers on Thursday.

Researchers from consulting firm ECOnorthwest presented an early draft of their findings about Connecticut’s housing need to key lawmakers on the Housing and Planning and Development committees on Thursday. The presentation was done in response to a law passed in 2023 that mandated a statewide study on a fair share zoning policy.

Connecticut needs an additional 110,702 units of new housing — and possibly far more — to meet demand statewide, according to a report commissioned by the legislature and presented to lawmakers Thursday.

Housing needs are especially acute in the Hartford region and southwestern Connecticut, the report found.

"Connecticut is the most constrained housing market of any state in the country," said Michael Wilkerson, who co-authored the report, citing the state's low vacancy rate. "And so for us, that's indicative of ... a very challenged housing market in terms of affordability and availability of housing."

Housing advocates have joined the fight to prevent the state of Connecticut from approving a moratorium on affordable housing for the town of New Canaan under the state’s decades-old affordable housing law.

Open Communities Alliance (OCA), a civil-rights organization that advocates for fair housing, filed an intervenor brief late last year in support of a declaratory ruling to revoke a moratorium that the state Department of Housing approved for New Canaan last summer.

With vacancy rates low, rents high, home-ownership out of reach for many residents and homelessness rising year after year, Connecticut clearly has a housing problem.

The question, posed annually around this time, is what state lawmakers might do about it.

In recent years, Connecticut's legislature has considered sweeping proposals to reshape housing policy in the state, only to land on more modest solutions. This has increasingly irked advocates, who say the state is short more than 98,000 affordable rental units.

Policy proposals and debate about the availability and affordability of buying a home or renting, which along with zoning are controversial issues at the state and local level in Connecticut, are getting new national recognition in this year’s presidential campaign.

Both of the major party tickets have discussed it to varying degrees as voters across the U.S. struggle with costs associated with housing, utilities and groceries. Renters in Connecticut spend about a third of their income on rent, a Consumer Affairs report found. And house prices in the state were up nearly 10% year-over-year in the first few months of 2024 as housing stock remained low.

For groups in Connecticut focused on housing policy, it is encouraging to see it in the spotlight, though they believe some issues remain unaddressed in the candidates’ platforms like homelessness, rent caps and tenants’ rights. Others want housing prioritized locally with the federal government directing attention to other economic issues.