Some Connecticut towns and cities need more than 3,000 additional housing units to help meet the current level of statewide demand, a new report has concluded.

The 'Fair Share' study, commissioned by the state legislature, seeks to distribute statewide housing need across all 169 Connecticut municipalities, based on several different formulas. The results are intended for use in zoning reform policies, one of which recently advanced out of the legislative Housing Committee and could come up for a vote in the broader legislature in the coming months.

According to ECONorthwest, a consulting firm hired by the state, Connecticut needs at least 120,000 units of new housing altogether.

The new report emerges from a 2023 law, which established a process to assess town-by-town housing needs in Connecticut as part of a push for the construction of more rental units. Advocates and lawmakers generally agree on the need for more affordable housing in the state but disagree sharply on how — and where — they should be built.

In January, ECOnorthwest presented a breakdown of housing needs by region, describing the shortage as particularly acute in the Hartford area and in southwestern Connecticut. Michael Wilkerson, one of the consultants behind the report, described Connecticut has having "the most constrained housing market of any state in the country," citing an extremely low vacancy rate.

See how many housing units your Connecticut town would build under a new 'Fair Share' report, Alex Putterman, CT Insider, April 9, 2025, available here