City experts to talk Affordable Housing Plan via Zoom
STAMFORD — The Planning Board will hold a Zoom public hearing Tuesday on Stamford's Housing Affordability Plan to explain how the city plans to end the yearslong confusion over local housing stock.
State law requires every town in Connecticut to adopt a formal affordable housing strategy by June 1.
The plan must describe how a “municipality intends to increase the number of affordable housing developments within” it, according to the nonprofit Regional Plan Association.
Consultants have already presented Stamford's housing affordability plan in part.
At a November zoning board meeting, the New York-based firm HR&A Advisers laid out the broad strengths and weaknesses of the city approach to affordable housing.
Data analyzed by HR&A shows that both homeowners and renters in the city felt squeezed by the 2021 hot real estate market.
They also pointed out that, though Stamford has fared better than most municipalities in creating deed-restricted affordable housing, its existing protocols need major updates to survive.
Cities and towns now must amend or adopt a new housing plan at least every five years.
The law also mandates that every municipality “must regularly review and maintain their affordable housing plan,” according to RPA.
Stamford officials first announced the city affordable housing study in 2019 , and hadn't executed a study since 2001, before the city's development boom and other building that has placed it the second larges city in Connecticut.
The full Housing Affordability Plan and the corresponding executive summary are available on the city website.
Residents can submit written feedback on the plan via Google Forms.
The public hearing is set for 7 p.m. May 10.
More information is available on the city site.