Affordable housing remains hot topic

‘Racial isolation,’ segregation

Nearly 30 years after the state passed a landmark law to encourage affordable housing, the issue is still prompting passionate debate among lawmakers over home rule and state mandates.

The General Assembly’s Planning and Development Committee on Monday narrowly moved a bill sponsored by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to the House that puts more “teeth” in existing housing law to push reluctant communities to allow affordable housing.

“There are some who felt poor people should not live near rich people in their communities,” said state Rep. Roland Lemar, D-New Haven, co-chairman of the committee, referring to testimony against the bill.

“One of the chief obstacles to growth is restrictive zoning,” Lemar said.

The legislation drew considerable opposition and debate among committee members, based mostly on home rule arguments and a dislike of any mandate that tells towns and cities what they should allow within their borders.

“Having us in Hartford say zoning must be a certain way is a heavy-handed approach to a problem,” said state Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin.

“There are towns I can’t afford to live in,” Dubitsky said. “I will never live in Greenwich, and it’s not because of zoning. It’s because the housing is too expensive. We are trying to create a one-size-fits-all. This is not the way to do it.”

Malloy’s bill reignites an old debate — one that culminated last year with the General Assembly overriding the governor’s veto of legislation that weakened affordable housing law and established moratoriums for towns and cities.

The latest attempt to push municipalities stipulates that disrupting the “character of a neighborhood” is not sufficient reason to deny affordable housing.

The bill provides state officials with the “stick” of denying discretionary funding to communities that do not comply. The state Department of Housing every five years would review communities and determine if they are meeting the state’s goal that 10 percent of their housing stock be affordable.

So far — despite passing the affordable housing law in 1991 — 138 of the state’s 169 communities have not met the goal.

State Rep. Tami Zawistowski, R-East Granby, said Malloy’s bill is not the way to encourage affordable housing.

“I’m not convinced this is the way to go about it,” Zawistowski said. “In many ways, this overrides local zoning. I think it’s a little bit heavy-handed. The goals are good but I will be voting against it.”

State Rep. Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, said the issue is really about the racial isolation — or segregation — of Connecticut.

“Despite being blue, we are one of the most racially isolated states in the country,” Rojas said.

“Over and over there are examples of why a higher authority had to act.” Rojas said. “This is the moral issue of our time.”

State Rep. Steven Stafstrom, D-Bridgeport, said towns continue to resist affordable housing while seeking more state funding.

“This bill does not operate in isolation; it operates in a much larger conversation,” Stafstrom said. “As municipalities resist affordable housing and regional service, and seek the same amount of state aid, we are in this cycle where the way we have been operating is not showing any marked improvements.”

But state Sen. Tony Hwang, R-Fairfield, said another mandate from Hartford is not the answer.

“In reading the testimony by the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities and the Connecticut Council of Small Towns, they are very concerned,” Hwang said, referring to the bill. “I know there are challenges, but the idea of Hartford mandating our municipalities is not always the best.”