Land largesse is needed in Southbury

Please consider helping out during our housing crisis.

To the editor,

Dear community-minded landowners, if you care about those teachers, health care workers, receptionists, bank clerks, among throngs of others in Southbury who can’t afford to live in town because long wait lists and no vacancies exist for affordable housing or who do live here but have to scrimp on food, meds, doctor/dentist visits, and fuel for their homes because rents are more than they can financially sustain, please consider helping out during our housing crisis.

A shocking 58 percent of rents in Southbury run over $1,500/month. Based on not spending more than the sustainable 30 percent of income on housing, an individual would have to earn more than $60,000 a year to afford this. Gradeschool teachers make roughly $30,000$50,000-plus; entry level LPNs, $70,000 a year on average; receptionists earn $15$35/hour.

Three ways you can help:

1. Donate 3-plus acres of land or sell it at a nominal cost to the nonprofit Southbury Affordable Housing Alliance (SAHA). Among towns where a philanthropic landowner has donated land are Roxbury and Washington. And land’s market value makes a sizable tax deduction.

SAHA’s Board of Directors and Connecticut’s ace affordable housing consultant already have a plan to build 20-30 solar affordable housing apartments in an attractive townhouse style complementing our town’s look. Contact: SouthburyAHA@gmail.com

2. Convert a barn, a garage, or even a couple rooms in your home into a onebedroom or studio apartment and rent it out at an affordable price. Having a little extra cash to splurge on your chocolate, movie, music, travel, and/or dining pleasures is a rather nice fringe benefit of helping someone. Or why not rent out the guesthouse your mother-on-law no longer needs?

3. Urge Town Hall to donate or sell, at nominal cost, some town property suitable for building affordable housing. Contact our Board of Selectmen.