'An Urgent Housing Crisis': Fairfield Experts Talk Affordability

FAIRFIELD, CT — Affordable housing has been a hot topic for years in Fairfield, and Wednesday’s forum on zoning and land use was no different.

The event, featuring legislators and other experts, and held via Zoom, drew roughly 160 attendees and was organized by local land use advocacy group FairPLAN.

“We have an urgent housing crisis in the state of Connecticut,” said state Sen. Tony Hwang, a Republican from District 28 and a ranking member of the Housing Committee, who suggested legislators should consider revisiting the controversial housing law Section 8-30g.

The law applies to towns where less than 10 percent of housing stock meets state criteria to be recognized as affordable, and dictates the only way a municipality can avoid approving certain affordable housing proposals is by proving a project threatens public health, welfare and safety. In Fairfield, 2.47 percent of housing stock is compliant with 8-30g.

State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey, a Democrat from District 133 who chairs the Planning and Development Committee, called the law “a blunt instrument” and Melissa Kaplan-Macey, of the Regional Plan Association, said such housing policies serve as “a floor, not a ceiling.”

“We get very stuck on 8-30g for what is affordable and what is not affordable,” Kaplan-Macey said, noting many teachers and service workers can’t pay housing costs in Fairfield.

About 75 percent of recent Fairfield housing permits have been issued for single-family homes, indicating the town has not prioritized the type of high-density residences that would create affordable options, according to CT Mirror housing reporter Jacqueline Rabe Thomas.

“8-30g is one route and ending some exclusionary zoning practices is another route,” she said.

McCarthy Vahey and state Rep. Kimberly Fiorello referenced several housing and development policies before state committees that propose a range of actions, such as:

• Raising school construction reimbursement rates for certain municipalities that take steps to increase affordable housing.
• Requiring a working group to study municipal affordable housing plans and zoning regulations.
• Allowing authorities to reach up to 15 miles beyond town lines for certain affordable housing purposes.

“How we look at land use really determines the kind of society we have,” McCarthy Vahey said, stressing a need to consider both homeowners and renters. “The goal is always to hear as many voices as possible”

Francis Pickering, of the Western Connecticut Council of Governments, was concerned proposed policies would result in more market rate housing in the state’s suburban and rural areas, drawing residents from Connecticut’s cities, which are already blighted due to disinvestment.

“We need to make sure that we invest in all communities,” he said.

Urban centers are the only places that already have affordable housing, according to Rabe Thomas.

“There’s so few affordable housing investments going on in the suburban communities,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be one or the other, and it’s just a matter of how you find a path forward.”