With the state legislative session well under way, Gov. Ned Lamont’s recent budget speech attempted to set the tone of the next few months.
As has been the case the past few years, the Governor touched on housing. The scope of the housing crisis is such that leaders across the spectrum are coming up with ways to take on the issue.
“We will continue investing $400 million per year in housing – workforce, affordable, supportive, and multi-family,” Lamont stated in his address to a joint session of the House and Senate. “People want to live in Connecticut, and the only thing holding us back is a lack of housing.”
The governor is right. And it’s important to focus on spending as the state looks to make up for a years-long backlog of housing construction that has failed to meet demand.
But there was a key element missing from the governor’s speech, and his pronouncements on housing to date. He did not say the “Z” word. The reason we’re so behind on building homes isn’t just spending – it’s zoning.
People want to build homes, and other people want to live in them, but they’re held back by exclusionary zoning practices prevalent in so many towns.
“People want to live in Connecticut, but outdated zoning laws are holding back home construction and hindering economic growth,” Open Communities Alliance Executive Director Erin Boggs said in a news story by CT News Junkie. “If we reform these policies, we can not only address the housing shortage but also give the state’s economy a much-needed boost, with local towns leading the charge.”
OCA is supporting a zoning reform plan called Towns Take the Lead in 2025 that would have towns plan and zone to meet the state’s affordable housing needs, as detailed in a recently released state report. Under this plan, towns would decide for themselves what housing would look like and where it would go.
As CT News Junkie further reported, since the COVID-19 pandemic, home values have surged by 60 percent in Connecticut and rents have increased by 40 percent to 50 percent, according to the recently released study.
The housing crisis is real. As the governor said, people want to live here, and the demand has never been higher. The solution lies in zoning reform.