An important story was published recently by reporters Jacqueline Rabe Thomas and Alex Putterman in CT Insider about the housing that Connecticut is falling short on building. The evidence they present of a housing shortfall flies in the face of consistently sunny talk from the governor and his administration, and should help guide legislative strategy this year in the General Assembly.
The upshot is that whatever Connecticut is doing in regards to public spending on affordable housing, the state is held back by factors that don’t relate to funding.
Those factors mainly amount to zoning. We have an incredibly constrained housing market in the state – the most constrained in America, according to a recent study. It’s not money that’s holding that market back, and it is most certainly not a lack of demand. It’s overregulation.
The result is a stifled market. As the story notes, “Since 2012, the number of new housing permits issued each year has remained relatively steady and totaled only about half the number of permits issued annually during the early 2000s, data show.”
Spending is helpful. But we can’t spend our way out of the housing crisis.
Fortunately, the best solution doesn’t require major government outlays. We can update zoning regulations across our communities without breaking the budget.
The zoning reform bill known as Towns Take the Lead takes on this challenge. It provides every town with a baseline to plan around, based on a state study of affordable housing needs. It then asks every town to plan and zone to meet that target number of affordable housing units, or, if they think that’s not possible, put forth a number they can plan around.
The towns don’t build the housing themselves. Instead, they allow the housing market to work the way it should, where supply can match demand.
The current system, where we’re left hoping that towns will change regulations on their own, has had its chance to work. It hasn’t.
Time for something new.
Hugh Bailey, Policy Director
Open Communities Alliance (OCA)