By Karla Ciaglo
East Hartford, CT — With the average rent in Connecticut near $1,975, a new poll from the Regional Plan Association found that nine in ten residents believe Connecticut is “not doing enough” to expand affordable housing. Nearly as many blame outdated zoning rules and infrastructure limits for the problem.
With a special legislative session scheduled this week to pass a bill aimed at addressing the issue, Gov. Ned Lamont, legislative leaders, and a coalition of local officials gathered in East Hartford to unveil what they called a reset: a bipartisan housing proposal that replaces the mandates of the vetoed House Bill 5002 with incentives, infrastructure investment, and regional planning.
“This is a very important bill that gives people the incentives,” Lamont said. “They know the state is going to be there as their partner when it comes to sewer and water, higher reimbursement on schools, more rail train stations — doing everything we can to help build the housing we need.”
The measure keeps key features of the earlier proposal while answering the loudest objections from small-town officials. It shortens the parking-reform threshold from 24 units to 16, expands state grants for water and sewer projects, and trades the statewide “fair-share” housing quotas for regional needs assessments run through councils of governments. The result, lawmakers said, is a bill that ties housing growth to infrastructure reality rather than to a formula.
House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, who helped steer months of post-veto negotiations, described the measure as “the product of hard conversations that stayed at the table.”
“There’s been acrimony here and there, but what you see standing behind me is what matters — leaders from the local level, from the regional level, from the administration and the legislature, all focusing on the end game,” he said. “The prize is advancing policy that creates homes for people and families to live in. We stayed through it, we compromised, and Connecticut is going to be better off for it.”
The new framework addresses the same goals as HB 5002 — accelerating multifamily housing, repurposing vacant commercial property, and modernizing zoning codes — but changes the path to get there. HB 5002 would have required every municipality to plan for a state-assigned share of regional housing needs and imposed uniform limits on parking minimums. The replacement keeps the “commercial-to-residential conversion” provisions and the ban on parking as a barrier but lets local commissions tailor the rules.
“Sometimes planning and zoning uses parking as a way to discourage development,” Lamont said. “That was fundamentally unfair. So for any units under 16, we’re going to make sure we can speed things up, still give towns flexibility, but make it easier to build.”
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz underscored the scale of the shortage with statewide data that showed 7,400 first-time homebuyers in the past eight years through the state’s Time-to-Own program. But the median age of those buyers in Connecticut is now 40, up from 33 five years ago, she said.
“My kids are in their late 20s and early 30s, and none of them have bought a home,” she said. “We don’t want that to be the case for our kids in Connecticut.”
A criticism of the earlier bill was that it was too prescriptive. Mary Calorio, regional town manager for Canterbury, Chaplin, and Pomfret, said the new version “balances statewide goals with local realities.”
“The original housing allotment didn’t fully consider infrastructure—water, sewer, transportation,” she said. “This bill supports a regional approach calling for a comprehensive housing-needs assessment for every region. Housing needs don’t stop at our town lines.”
Municipal groups echoed the sentiment. Joe DeLong, executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and Betsy Gara, executive director of the Council of Small Towns praised Lamont for “reaching out and listening.”
North Haven First Selectman Mike Freda, a Republican, called the measure “a symbolic representation of true collaboration,” adding that “failure is not an option.”
Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti, who recently won an 18th term in office and has twice sought the Republican nomination to run for governor, said the revision created “a saleable product.”
“It’s not easy to stand up in the face of the state and veto a bill,” Lauretti said. “But once you do, and you stay the course, you take it to the next level. We now have something everyone can live with.”
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam, a Democrat, said the bill could help rebalance responsibility across the state.
“The fears of change are so great. But when change comes, it feels inevitable,” he said. “Over 53 percent of our housing units are affordable. We need other communities to step up.”
Kara Capone, CEO of Community Housing Advocates, said her organization sees the crisis daily. She said the new proposal wasn’t everything she hoped for, but she was in favor of any movement to get more housing into more areas.
“All we deal with is seeing women and children who can’t afford a place to live,” she said.
Regional Plan Association policy director Pete Harrison called the announcement “the end of the beginning.” He said there was a real hunger from renters and buyers.
“This is a good step — but just one step,” he said.
Connecticut ranks among the lowest in New England for housing starts, and its stock of affordable units under the state’s 8-30g program covers barely 11% of households. State economists warn that stagnant housing supply threatens job growth as employers struggle to attract workers.
“Every business I talk to asks, ‘Will there be housing for our workforce?’” Lamont said. “That’s what this bill is about — getting to yes.”
If approved, the measure would reestablish Connecticut’s housing agenda on voluntary participation, measurable incentives, and infrastructure support. It would direct the Department of Housing to coordinate regional assessments through councils of governments, create funding tiers for towns that expand zoning near transit, and streamline small-project permitting under 16 units.
“We’re building more housing today than we have in the last five or 10 years, but not fast enough,” Lamont said. “This bill makes sure we build housing where mayors want to put it. Mayors take the lead, and the state will be their partner to make sure it gets built.”
Whether the collaboration holds will depend on the special session vote next week. Lamont issued a proclamation setting a special session for November 12 to consider the new housing bill which focuses on regional growth plans, first-time homebuyer savings accounts, and transit-oriented development.