Darien affordable housing plan misses deadline
DARIEN — Two weeks after a state-required affordable housing plan was due, Darien is still writing the first draft.
The Planning and Zoning commission is in the middle of crafting an updated affordable housing plan, required of all 169 Connecticut municipalities after the state legislature passed a broader housing law in 2021.
The plan was due to the Office of Policy and Management by June 1.
Darien isn't alone — only 81 of Connecticut's 169 municipalities made the deadline to submit their affordable housing plans to the state. The law contains few repercussions for towns that submit late or not at all.
As per the law's requirements, town officials did notify the OPM that Darien would not adopt a plan on time. While the commission is still working on draft chapters, there will likely be a public hearing in late July, with the plan's adoption to hopefully follow, said Jeremey Ginsberg, planning and zoning director.
That means the town is now in the “stretch run,” Ginsberg said.
“I'm glad that we're still on board, still on track,” chair Stephen Olvany said during Tuesday's commission meeting.
The plans are meant to combat a widespread dearth of affordable housing in the state by asking local officials to lay out the problems their town may face in the quest for offering more diversified
The cost of living in Darien is also reaching new highs. The median cost of a single-family home in Darien has more than doubled in the past two decades, going from $675,000 in 2000 to $1.45 million in 2020, according to a chapter of the plan.
and accessible housing stock.
In Darien's version, officials have identified an uphill battle in doing so. The plan calls for the creation of more affordable housing units to reach a 10 percent target set in state statute.
Darien will need approximately 455 more affordable housing units to reach that 10 percent target. But as more nonaffordable housing gets built, that number will increase.
“The goalposts keep moving,” Ginsberg said.
The cost of living in Darien is also reaching new highs. The median cost of a single-family home in Darien has more than doubled in the past two decades, going from $675,000 in 2000 to $1.45 million in 2020, according to a chapter of the plan.
And citing an April 2022 Zillow report, town officials reported that home values increased by 16 percent in the past year, reaching an even newer high. Rental units, meanwhile are limited in stock and reflect expensive home prices.
Ginsberg said the town has made progress over the past 18 years, growing stock from 1 percent of affordable housing units to 3.56 percent today.
Yet “much more work is needed,” the plan said — especially as the population slowly inclines.
“I think the commission just needs to understand that more people want to be in Darien than there was housing available,” said David Keating, a former assistant director of planning and zoning who is helping the commission draft the plan. “That's what's creating the desire or the demand for people to be in the area.”