Lawyer: Affordable housing for workers -- not the poor

Alex Wood, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·4 min read

May 26—GLASTONBURY — Connecticut's affordable-housing law is intended to encourage development of "workforce housing," a lawyer who handles cases under the law told the Town Council this week.

AFFORDABILITY

GOAL: Provide housing that enables people who work in a town to live there.

ZONING: Rules don't apply if developer restricts 30% of units in a complex to rents considered affordable under the law.

NEGOTIATIONS: Towns can make deals with developers, such as allowing a reduced number of affordable units in return for compliance with certain restrictions.

The lawyer, Kari L. Olson of Murtha Cullina, explained during a presentation at Tuesday's council meeting that the law originated in the 1980s with concerns that people often couldn't afford to live in the town where they worked.

The law is a focus of public attention in Glastonbury for two reasons.

First, the town is developing an affordable-housing plan as state law requires it to do every five years.

Second, a development company is using the law as its basis for a proposal to build a five-story, 74-unit apartment building on 2.4 acres at Hebron Avenue and Manchester Road, a plan that has encountered widespread public opposition.

The apartment proposal doesn't conform to Glastonbury's zoning rules for the area. But it doesn't have to under the affordable-housing law because less than 10% of the housing in Glastonbury is considered affordable, and the developers are willing to set aside 30% of the apartments for affordable housing.

The law defines housing as affordable if a family making up to 80% of the area's median income can pay for it with no more than 30% of family income, Olson said.

She said the median income for the Hartford area is $112,700. That means apartments would have to be affordable to families with annual incomes up to $90,160, with monthly rents up to $2,254.

The law also requires that half the affordable units in a complex be within reach of people making up to 60% of the area's median income. That is an annual income up to $67,620, with monthly rents up to $1,690.

Olson said those are reasonable incomes for a person working in the community — not poverty-level incomes.

The benefits of affordable housing include attracting a skilled workforce to the area, promoting diversity, and helping young people stay in town, Olson said.

She said only 5.95% of Glastonbury's housing is currently considered affordable.

While affordable-housing developers don't have to comply with local zoning rules, they do have to comply with water pollution control and wetlands regulations, she said.

When a zoning application is denied and a developer appeals to court, the developer ordinarily has to prove that the proposal complies with zoning and other regulations.

But when a project is proposed under the affordable-housing law, the burden of proof is reversed.

Under state law, the zoning commission has to prove that the denial "is necessary to protect substantial public interests in health, safety, or other matters, which the commission may legally consider."

The commission also must prove that those public interests clearly outweigh the need for affordable housing and can't be protected by reasonable changes in the plan.

Olson said Glastonbury is one of the few towns that has defeated such an appeal, in a case where it had a plan to use a property for open space. But she said the affordable-housing law has been strengthened to the point that she doesn't believe a court would decide the case the same way today.

She said a town needs expert testimony to win such an appeal. It's not sufficient that neighbors express health or safety concerns.

Olson said some developers use the affordable-housing law "as a sword" against towns that don't "play nice with them."

But she also said there are ways towns can work with developers, such as approving a proposal with a reduced number of affordable units if the developer agrees to comply with certain restrictions.

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