Zullo's Agenda Includes Re-Tooling Affordable Housing Regulations

EAST HAVEN, CT —In announcing his legislative agenda for 2021, state Rep Joe Zullo, (R-East Haven) says he wants to see a "re-tool" on affordable housing regulations. He claims East Haven is "burdened" by having to meet a minimum 10 percent affordable housing stock threshold. He claims developers "exploit this technicality to gain approval for dense, eco-unfriendly projects that are inconsistent with towns’ zoning standards."

“This proposal will give credit to towns like East Haven that maintain a diverse affordable housing stock," Zullo said in a news release. "If enacted, the proposal would likely elevate East Haven and other towns above the State’s affordable housing metric, preventing developers from circumventing the town’s local zoning standards and giving towns greater local control over development.”

Zullo pointed to the state's 2019 Affordable Housing Appeals List which shows, he said, that East Haven currently has 1,007 units which are classified as affordable, equating to 8.03 percent of the town's housing stock. That number falls nearly two full percontage points below the state reuqieed 10 percent.

Zullo said his proposal would "expand the formula by which the State computes the number of 'affordable' housing units in a town to include a new metric: properties capable of being purchased by those earning less than 80 percent of the area median income, regardless of whether the property is deed-restricted."

He claims the state is "fixated on properties needing to be deed-restricted in order to count as ‘affordable.'"

“Deed restrictions arbitrarily limit upward mobility by capping sales prices. We need to help first-time homebuyers grow their wealth, not arbitrarily cap it," he said. "This proposal not only makes the current framework fairer, but it promotes opportunities for working families and first-time homebuyers to build wealth.”

About outdoor learning initiatives Zullo proposes

Zullo said he hopes to see "expand(ed) outdoor learning initiatives for schools in the wake of the pandemic."

His agenda, he said, includes a proposal to create a pilot grant program to incentivize the creation of outdoor learning spaces by local boards of education, which he calls "prudent and necessary in the wake of the pandemic."

“The pandemic has shown us that we need to be adaptable in how we educate our children. We need to continue to focus on building an enriching classroom experience, but we also need to begin looking at how to expand that experience to non-traditional settings like the outdoors," he said. "My proposal seeks to establish a matching grant program to allow communities to develop safe, outdoor learning spaces to supplement the existing traditional classroom experience.”

Specifically, he said the proposal would provide appropriate social distancing and/or increasing social distancing to prevent the spread of illness, promote social and emotional wellbeing of students, promote applied and/or hands-on learning and supplement existing, traditional indoor learning spaces.

“I’ve proposed initiating this as a pilot program within existing appropriations, so as to avoid triggering a fiscal impact," he said. "I recognize our state still faces a number of budget constraints, but I see this as an area where the state needs to take action.”