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State Rep. Lonnie Reed
Shortly before midnight, the state’s House of Representatives passed an affordable housing bill aimed at curtailing exploitation by developers under the Affordable Housing Act. By a vote of 116 – 13, the House voted overwhelmingly to update the statute.
The bill now goes to the Senate, and if called, is expected to pass. However, the 2017 legislative session heads to mandatory adjournment next week on June 7 and often bills get stuck, dying on the other side of the midnight deadline.
State Rep. Lonnie Reed (D‑Branford) has been working to update the affordable housing act for several years, and was a co-sponsor of House Bill 6880. She told the Eagle, only budget bills can be resurrected “if we go into special session over the summer. Hopefully, HB6880 will make it.” Click here to read an earlier story.
What legislators on both sides of the aisle learned during debate on the revisions to the statute was that Connecticut is the only state in the nation with affordable housing procedures that allows private developers unlimited power to force through construction proposals that supersede all local town or city zoning rules. In short, Under the current state statute, affordable housing developers may override zoning rules.
Reed said in an interview that “As an avid supporter of affordable housing, I am eager to update and refine statute 8 – 30(g) to better protect it from being hijacked by predatory developers with ulterior motives and to do a better job of incentivizing and responding to community needs. Our district is only one of many struggling with these issues.”
In Branford’s current case, the property in question is a half-acre site at 239 Pawson Road that’s about 200 feet from the Branford River, has tidal wetlands, and an easement to adjacent state-owned open-space property. In this case, the developer sought approval from two land commissions at the same time. The case is now before the state’s land use court.
In a previous interview, Reed said, “The Pawson Road case in Branford case is symptomatic of what we in Hartford call ‘predatory developer behavior,’ meaning that some bad actors hijack or misuse for selfish purposes a statute intended to help deserving people.”
Part of the amended statute will include language that bars affordable housing from being built in a flood plain, one of the issues in the Pawson Park case.
The bill passed by the House last night examines and credits existing affordable housing within a town or city, housing that currently does not fall under the existing statute. It had strong bi-partisan support.
Reed said that discussions on this topic often became heated. “Our efforts and intentions are sometimes misinterpreted and misunderstood by 8 – 30g devotees who fear we are trying to eliminate affordable housing opportunities. These discussions can get incredibly angry and emotional, particularly behind the scenes. I have to commend and thank Rep. Larry Butler, the House chairman of our Housing Committee for his incredible patience, persistence, sense of fairness and civility in getting this bill crafted, called, and passed with a strong vote. It would not have happened without him.” Butler represents the city of Waterbury.
State Sen. Gayle Slossberg (D‑Milford) said earlier in the session that “of the 175,000 affordable housing units built in Connecticut since passage of the Affordable Housing Act, only 5,000 are a result of the Affordable Housing Appeal Act, commonly referred to as 8 – 30(g). Accordingly, the Appeals Act has produced a very small number of units of affordable housing in relation to the state’s overall effort to increase affordable housing.”
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