Why Fair Housing Still Hasn’t Reached Fairfield County

April is Fair Housing Month — a time to honor the promise of the Fair Housing Act and reflect on how far we’ve come. But in Connecticut, one of the wealthiest and most racially segregated states in the country, it's also a time to be honest about how far we still have to go.

The truth is, our state’s housing crisis isn’t just about affordability. It’s about exclusion. And, if you dig into the history, that exclusion was by design. For some, that effort to exclude continues to this day.

Decades of local zoning laws — minimum lot sizes, bans on multifamily housing, and other so-called “preservation” policies — have kept many of our wealthiest towns overwhelmingly white and affluent, while pushing low-income residents and families of color into under-resourced cities. In 2020, 77% of Connecticut’s Black residents still lived in just 15 of our 169 towns. The racial geography of our state looks eerily similar to the 1960s. That’s not an accident. That’s policy.

But if policy created this problem, policy can help undo it.

For too long, the responsibility of fixing Connecticut’s segregation has been placed on our poorest communities. Cities like Bridgeport, New Haven, and Waterbury are expected to carry the burden of housing everyone who’s priced out or pushed out of wealthier suburbs. Meanwhile, many of those suburbs enact zoning rules that all but guarantee they stay exclusive and resource-rich.

That needs to change — and it starts with those of you reading this.

I’m speaking to residents of Fairfield, Westport, Wilton, Weston, Darien, Greenwich, Ridgefield and New Canaan. If you’re reading this in a beautiful home with high performing schools, and tree-lined streets — ask yourself: Why shouldn’t other families have access to the same?

You may not think of yourself as someone who’s “against affordable housing.” But what happens when a duplex is proposed down the street from you? What’s your reaction when a town meeting discusses building apartments near the train station? What does your neighborhood association say when legislation like “Fair Share” or “Towns Take the Lead” zoning reform comes up?

The most powerful thing you can do this Fair Housing Month isn’t performative allyship. It’s using your voice to make room.

Support state policies that require every town to do its part in allowing affordable housing to be built — especially housing that’s affordable to teachers, grocery clerks, home health aides, and young families just starting out. Encourage your local leaders to say yes to housing near transit and jobs. Push back when groundless fear-based arguments about “neighborhood character” are used to shut down inclusive development.

Fair housing is not just about where people can afford to live. It's about whether we are willing to share power, resources, and opportunity. It’s about whether we believe that every family — regardless of income or background — deserves a fair shot at a safe, stable place to call home.

I recently had the opportunity to speak at Saugatuck Congregational Church in Westport and sit with the Justice Ministry of St. Paul’s on the Green in Norwalk. In both spaces, people of faith gathered to ask hard questions about justice, equity, and what love looks like when it’s lived out. We reflected on the fact that Jesus himself was born into a place with no room, and how often we replicate that same refusal today — zoning out our neighbors and building walls of policy instead of bridges of compassion. The gospel calls us to do better. And Connecticut, for all its wealth and promise, has the chance to answer that call.

Connecticut’s segregation is not an unfortunate relic of the past. It is a choice we continue to make. But we can choose differently. We can build a future that reflects not just our values, but our courage to live them out.

This month, let’s do more than acknowledge Fair Housing Month. Let’s act like we mean it.

Kirk A. Wesley, Senior Community Organizer and Outreach Coordinator
Open Communities Alliance (OCA)