Real estate market shows need for reform

All-cash purchases. Bidding wars. Multiple offers. The scene in the Connecticut housing market, especially in the state’s southwestern corner, is getting hotter even as vaccinations rise and the pandemic starts to wane. Maybe it started with New Yorkers looking to get away from the bull’s-eye of COVID-19’s first wave, but it’s long outlived that situation. First-time homebuyers, especially, are in a bind, with prices on the rise and little hope of nailing down a starter home.

It’s almost like we need some kind of zoning reform.

It’s not like this is an uncommon situation. Gold Coast towns price out all but the most affluent under normal circumstances, and the supercharged real estate market has only heightened the stakes. Unless you own a hedge fun or work in the corner office, entire communities are out of reach. That leaves out young people, but also retirees, not to mention teachers, blue-collar workers and nearly everyone else.

That’s one of the selling points of zoning reform, currently facing serious pushback in the state Legislature even as various measures continue to be debated. By raising limits on the types and numbers of homes that can be built, towns would become less exclusionary and (somewhat) more affordable. The look of neighborhoods wouldn’t change much, with a focus on dense development around main streets and transit stops, but those towns would at least offer a foothold for people looking to move in.

Let’s talk, too, about what reform does not mean. It does not mean the end of local zoning. It does not mean Hartford makes all land-use decisions. It does not mean home rule is over.

None of that has stopped opponents from making those claims, but we need to look at the facts. If Connecticut is going to increase population and grow its economy, it can’t keep pricing everyone out of the towns where the jobs are, or forcing them into an hourlong commute every day, which is bad for the environment and for everyone’s nerves.

Yes, post-pandemic telecommuting has changed the equation, but there are plenty of jobs where a person needs to be on-site, and they’re not often the kind of jobs that can support a home in our priciest communities. A worker on the other end of a Zoom call isn’t going to fix your car.

Duplexes and triplexes should be as easy to build as a singlefamily home. Train stations should be surrounded by dense development, and apartments over main street shops should be the norm, not the exception. If towns like these ideas, they’re free to allow them at any time; because so many don’t allow them, proponents of change have been forced to go to the state.

A situation where a prospective homebuyer is shoved aside by someone offering all cash above the asking price is not sustainable. Even when the current red-hot market slows down, the situation needs to change. Our most exclusive towns need to open some doors to newcomers, and zoning reform is the way to do it.

Gold Coast towns price out all but the most affluent under normal circumstances, and the supercharged real estate market has only heightened the stakes.