Zoning for affordability: Housing advocates say public support is there
Elizabeth Regan | The Day
Advocates for a bill that would spread the need for affordable housing across the state instead of allowing it to concentrate in cities, pointed to recent poll results as evidence that Connecticut residents are ready for “transformative change.”
The survey of 2,562 registered voters by Embold Research found that 73% believe there should be “housing options in every town for residents of all incomes.” The remaining 27% said those who can’t afford market-rate housing in a town “need to move somewhere else.”
State Rep. Geoff Luxenberg, D-Manchester, co-chairman of the legislature’s Housing Committee, spoke at the Capitol Tuesday flanked by members of Growing Together Connecticut, a coalition of more than 45 mostly nonprofit social service and advocacy groups dedicated to zoning reform. The group was launched last year by the Hartford-based Open Communities Alliance, a group that started almost a decade ago to address racial segregation.
They were there to promote House Bill 3366, a measure introduced by the Housing Committee that would require towns and cities to build enough housing units over the next 10 years to meet their “fair share” of the housing needed in their particular region.