SENATOR MARX, HOUSING COMMITTEE ADVANCE FLAGSHIP SENATE HOUSING BILL

On Thursday evening, after a marathon committee meeting, State Senator Martha Marx (D-New London), Senate Chair of the Housing Committee, led the committee’s advancement of Connecticut Senate Democrats’ flagship housing bill for 2025 to the Senate floor for further consideration.

Senate Bill 12, “An Act Concerning Connecticut’s Housing Needs,” seeks to take steps toward improving the state’s most pressing housing pressures. Among its focuses include studying restrictions limiting development of starter homes; creating new affordable housing projects to foster increased construction employment; investing millions of dollars into state rental assistance program certificates; and finding new strategies to increase affordable housing development and ensure all communities are addressing high rental costs.

“When we have a variety of problems to fix, we need a variety of solutions,” said Sen. Marx. “This bill looks to increase our housing stock and help people squeezed by high prices in a tight market. It’s studying issues we can solve, incentivizes new construction and looks for short- and long-term ways to take deeper, more significant steps forward. Connecticut’s housing crunch is a huge problem that’s holding back our state’s residents and economy; this bill represents concrete steps forward to fix that.”

Senate Bill 12 takes a wide-ranging view of Connecticut’s housing needs and the active challenges buyers and renters face in the current market. Its focuses include:

-Developing a working group to study barriers preventing starter homes from being built in the state, with study focus including zoning, subdivision, building and fire codes

-Utilizing the State Bond Commission to sell bonds financing affordable housing projects that create employment opportunities in the construction industry

-Extending the CFHA SmartRate pilot program decreasing mortgage rates for people in first-time mortgage programs with $15,000+ in student debt

-Investing $8.7 million each year to add at least 700 rental assistance program certificates to state programs; 425 certificates would support elderly or disabled individuals and 275 would support Headstart on Housing, which fights homelessness by connecting housing-insecure families with children receiving Head Start services

-Towns with populations under 25,000 will either create a fair rent commission, form a joint commission with another town or join a regional fair rent commission under a council of governments

-Increasing reimbursement percentages for school building project grants for municipalities, including 20% increases for municipalities with 10%+ affordable housing, 8% for 8+% affordable housing and 5% for 6+% affordable housing, with increases lasting five years

-Landlords will need to install separate meters for utilities for renters’ dwelling units

-Allowing as-of-right single-family and multi-family housing construction on commercially zoned property. This directive is inspired by Montana legislation allowing multiple-unit and mixed-use developments on parcels where zoning regulations meet municipal requirements.

As of 2023, Connecticut has the fewest available housing units in the United States, missing 135,000 affordable housing units to support its residents. Half of the state’s residents pay at least 30% of their monthly income on housing costs, limiting their economic viability and holding back larger economic growth and participation.

The bill further seeks to provide additional incentivization of new construction, especially affordable housing. It seeks to expand fair-rent commissions in smaller communities in Connecticut, provide more resources to aid residents in need and take an overarching approach toward the state’s housing crunch.