“Room For All” Mayoral Candidate Forum To Take Place Thursday

It'll be interesting to see what the candidates will promise for a problem that is quite out of their control. What I would like to see the City do is to enforce the existing housing and building and health codes for ALL properties. Wherever one lives, you are entitled to a safe, clean, even attractive environment inside and outside. These laws are on the books and should be enforced. Let's see what they say

Simple answer Supply and Demand. If your lucky enough to have a rental you can afford, keep it up inside do your own upkeep. If you damage it, you fix it, brake a faucet replace it. Being a good renter help to keep the rent down. Complainer get rent hikes. Rodent are a issue of easy access to food no food no rodents put out traps where they can access from other units plumbing. If you catch one pack around the pipe with Steet wool no more that way.

Part of the high rent is high demand and low supply.
But a big part is high taxes, high insurance, high utilities, high labor costs and supply costs for maintenance and repairs, and other high costs, especially for 75+ year old homes which require a lot of maintenance and repairs to keep them up.
And a big part is the zoning laws and the lack of water and sewer infrastructure in the suburbs, which restricts multifamily buildings to mostly cities and a few large towns.
Until those factors change, we will continue to have rents go up. Not a whole lot any mayor can do about those issues, except enforce our rules and regulations we already have, and pressure the state to push for zoning laws reforms and require 10% affordable housing in all communities over a certain population number, or else face legal and financial repercussions. The increase in the number of housing and affordable units the state has, the less pressure on the market.

CY2, on your first point, sort of. You're right that the city has minimal influence on broad macroeconomic and demographics trends, such as increasing economic inequality and changing household structures. But the city does have extensive control over land use. It can facilitate new housing, market rate and subsidized.

Having said that, access to affordable housing is not simply a matter of supply and demand. Many suburbs practice exclusionary zoning and many subtle forms of racial discrimination persist.

And the idea that tenants should not complain about problems with their apartments is profoundly wrong. Of course tenants should keep their apartments clean. But if the walls are moldy, that is a result of the landlord failing to properly maintain the building. And if there are rodents in multiple units of a building, it is the landlord's responsibility to deal with the problem.

Heather, while I largely agree with you, it is often feasible to build small multifamily buildings (two- and three family) without sewers and public water. That is one issue in the challenge to Woodbridge's current zoning.

And while I am fine with your "fair share" proposal, far less demanding measures died this session in the legislature. The bulk of CT residents, including Democratic legislators, are suburbanites. Many of the former, and perhaps the latter, fear that any measure to open up the suburbs will result in "those people" moving in. I believe that this is more a matter of class than race. (I recently had a frustrating discussion on this point with a friend who is a progressive Fairfield County state legislator.) I suspect an African American attorney or accountant would encounter few barriers moving into most suburbs. A person who works at Walmart, regardless of race, not so much.

1644, point taken. I was thinking of black mold on walls, not bathroom scum, but was not clear on this point.

Why's rent so high?

Easy answer. Not enough new construction to meet demand.