East Haven approves new 5-year affordable housing plan

EAST HAVEN — The Town Council took steps toward addressing a major quality of life issue this week, unanimously approving a new five-year housing plan designed to promote and establish greater affordability for cost-burdened residents.

The East Haven 2022-2027 Housing Plan seeks to identify and encourage strategies to provide a variety of housing choices for people and families of all incomes, ages and characteristics. Two of the plan’s biggest goals are implementing housing for those who cannot afford current market-rate prices, and providing options that cater to residents 55 and older living on fixed incomes and who want to remain in East Haven.

Town Council members praised the housing plan for its comprehensive quality and commitment to spelling out specific ways that the town can broaden its housing portfolio and be more welcoming and inclusive to all who choose to live there.

“It’s definitely needed,” Town Council Vice Chair Lou Pacelli said of the plan. “I think it has a lot of positives to provide housing, especially for younger families that are coming in and are looking for reasonable and affordable housing in the town.”

The plan’s approval comes during a time of great financial strain, especially for East Haven residents. United Way, a nonprofit organization, estimated that about 43 percent of East Haven households likely struggle with housing costs, compared to 38 percent of Hamden residents, 48 percent of West Haven residents and 63 percent of New Haven residents. The median income in East Haven is $67,800, below the $99,700 regional figure that the town is compared against.

An analysis from American Community Survey found that 3,803 of the more than 12,000 East Haven households are considered “burdened” by their housing costs — meaning that they are spending more than 30 percent of their income for that expense, the plan states. Housing is typically considered affordable if people are spending up to a third of their income on housing costs.

Spending too much money on housing reduces the amount that people can put toward other important needs — food, transportation, health, among others — threatening their overall quality of life. The burden is being felt by households across the state, according to East Haven Land Use Attorney Jennifer Coppola, who has helped prepare housing plans for other municipalities.

“The number of households (in Connecticut) that are spending more than 50 percent on housing is shocking and very concerning,” Coppola said. “Especially with the increase of everything else.”

In 2022, East Haven had 983 affordable units, or about 7.84 percent of its housing stock. But that number has since increased to 8.27 percent, Coppola said, falling shy of the 10 percent required under state statute.

Some of plan’s strategies to supply more affordable housing include establishing a permanent affordable housing committee to implement the plan, explore extending deed restrictions, allowing accessory dwelling units and amending existing zoning regulations to remove impediments and create opportunities.

The plan also recommends working with the East Haven Housing Authority to determine how housing could be developed to meet the needs of certain residents, including those age 55 and older — a demographic that has begun to increase in recent years and will continue to climb.

“As the senior population grows and more seniors are on fixed incomes, the need for deeply affordable units for seniors will increase over time,” the plan states.

Some town officials said that the biggest impediment to providing more affordable units is finding a place to build them.

Among the plan’s list of recommended locations for affordable housing projects are Foxon Road and Main Street West, both of which have “several large, big box and retail plazas that could be redeveloped to include multifamily housing or mixed-use development over time,” the plan states.

Mixed-use projects are “likely to have a role in the redevelopment of East Haven’s commercial areas,” the plan adds.

Despite the apparent need for more affordable housing in East Haven, many residents seem to be against the idea, according to survey results included in the plan. About 52 percent of 577 survey respondents, many of whom were single-family homeowners in East Haven, thought the town would not benefit from more housing choices, including affordable. About 48 percent of respondents answered yes to that question.

And while 61 percent of respondents were concerned about the town’s cost of housing or homeownership, only about 28 percent said they felt East Haven had enough housing right now to meet future needs. Survey participants also generally were more inclined to think that more rental housing units would negatively affect the town, whereas more ownership units would have a positive effect, the results show.

One recently approved housing project from the Bluffs LLC will provide about 120 assisted-living units, which is one of the four types of affordable units. But another approved project from Autumn View LLC does not include an affordability component.

As developers continue to propose housing projects in East Haven, Coppola said she and Zoning Enforcement Officer Joseph Budrow have recommended that the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission enact a moratorium on multifamily developments, allowing time to craft regulations requiring developers to include affordable units as part of future development.

East Haven’s housing plan was prepared by an Affordable Housing Advisory Committee consisting of members of local boards, town staff and interested residents. The South Central Regional Council of Governments, in association with RKG Associates and David Fink, conducted the initial work that the housing committee refined into the final proposed plan.