Group taking appeal for CT affordable housing to suburban churches

In 1990, Connecticut passed 8-30g, a law to encourage cities and towns to allow affordable housing. Still, for decades, many towns have evaded compliance.

Cori Mackey found that out in 2019, when her organization, Center for Leadership and Justice, relocated 250 Hartford families from slumlord conditions during the “No More Slumlords” campaign. Many wanted to move to the suburbs.

“We could not do it. We tried everything. There are so many barriers to moving outside of Hartford, not the least of which is lack of affordable housing in the communities,” Mackey said. “We are living in Connecticut where many towns actively work to keep people out. It made the systemic barriers seem so real.”

There’s a new initiative this year to make noncompliance with affordable housing goals more difficult. HB6633, now working its way through the state legislature, would require each town in the state to create an affordable housing plan and would penalize municipalities that don’t. Towns were similarly required to create a plan and submit it to the state for June 1, 2022. The Office of Policy and Management shows a few dozen municipalities still have not done so.

The bill passed the Joint Committee on Housing and is now in the Office of Legislative Research and Office of Fiscal Analysis.

Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance, of which Mackey also is executive director, is among several organizations lobbying for passage of HB6633. But the group is taking another approach in the battle to increase affordable housing — winning over suburban residents.

The group co-founded the “Welcoming Affordable Housing in the Suburbs” campaign, a series of community talks aimed at educating folks about the need for affordable housing, dispelling myths about affordable housing and suggesting ways to advocate for affordable housing.

The campaign is funded by Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

“The barriers to affordable housing are rooted in deep desires to keep our communities the way they are, paired with a misunderstanding of what affordable housing is and what it will do to the suburbs,” Mackey said.

Housing is considered affordable if housing costs are less than a third of household income. There is a shortage of units that are affordable to low-income renters. Units that do exist tend to be concentrated in cities and to be occupied by people of color.

For a town to comply with 8-30g, 10% of its housing stock must be considered affordable. Only a fraction of towns are in compliance with 8-30g. In fact, the share of housing for low-income citizens has declined since 1990. This fact has made Connecticut one of the most racially segregated states in the country.

Damion Baker, community impact officer at HFPG, said only 31 municipalities in Connecticut have 10% affordable housing.

“There are 169 towns in Connecticut. The large concentration of affordable housing is in high poverty areas,” Baker said. “There’s more than enough space to go around in every town for affordable housing.”

Peter Harrison of Desegregate Connecticut said HB6633 is necessary because municipal zoning laws, which mandate home lot size and discourage multi-family developments, are at the root of the affordable housing crisis.

“These policies unconsciously or consciously limit housing stock available and raise the cost of housing considerably,” Harrison said. “The connection between class and race means people of color are particularly excluded.”

The “Welcoming Affordable Housing in the Suburbs” program was developed by GHIAA with Desegregate Connecticut and Open Communities Alliance. It is presented by the Racial Justice Steering Committee of Rocky Hill Congregational Church, which got the $10,000 HFPG grant.

The grant was part of HFPG’s advocacy for policy change in state and municipal affordable housing laws. The policy changes are efforts to confront structural and historical racism and how it manifests itself in housing issues.

The first two sessions were March 15 at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church in Simsbury and March 16 at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford. Two more events are March 29 at Rocky Hill Congregational Church and April 6 at Rocky Hill Community Center. All events start at 7 p.m. and are free.

Valerie Triblets, co-chair of Rocky Hill Congregational Church Racial Justice Steering Committee, said they applied for the funding last summer, at around the same time an apartment complex with 30% affordable housing was proposed in town. The project was shot down early this year by the town’s Open Space and Conservation Commission.

Triblets said many citizens have misconceptions about affordable housing. Some commenters voiced them at the event in Simsbury on March 15.

“There’s the concept that it will be messy, falling down, of poor construction. Some people say there’s a stigma if you live there. Some say it’ll make schools overcrowded, it’ll lower property values, it’ll bring crime,” she said. “A lot of the objections are racist. It’s going back to the ideas presented when there was redlining.”

Kari Nicewander of Open Communities Alliance said housing policies that shut out people of color are rooted in the 1926 U.S. Supreme Court case Euclid vs. Ambler, which pitted a developer against town zoning laws.

At the church events, Nicewander said racist beliefs are pernicious, widespread and false.

“The idea that affordable housing will drive down property values, there is no evidence to show that. Affordable housing in towns does not, in and of itself, decrease property values,” she said.

The greatest argument in favor of affordable housing, she said, is that it makes it possible for working-class people to live near their jobs.

“We have these towns where teachers, service workers, first responders cannot live in the towns where they work. So they drive in and out. That increases traffic,” she said. “People talk about the environmental impact. But the reality is, people not needing to commute an hour to get to their jobs is far better for the environment.”

Proponents argue affordable housing also allows young people who grow up in a town to settle there and for those who own homes in a town to downsize and continue to live in there.

Nicewander said HB6633 is necessary because noncompliance with 8-30g will continue without it.

“Without an enforcement mechanism, most towns can keep on zoning the way they have,” she said. “We can live up to what the federal Fair Housing Act is asking of us.”

Baker said the meetings are necessary because lack of understanding makes people scared of affordable housing.

“These meetings help demystify the thought that affordable housing is bad for the community,” he said. “Affordable housing in Connecticut can only enrich a community. It is needed and it is valued.”

Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com.