The primary organizations that represent Connecticut’s 169 municipalities have brought forward an outline for a new housing bill that eliminates previously proposed measures related to zoning and focuses instead on regional planning to address the state’s housing crisis.
The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the Connecticut Council of Small Towns and the nine regional councils of government put together a plan to replace the Democrats’ housing omnibus bill, H.B. 5002. That proposal, obtained by The Connecticut Mirror through an open records request, is being presented to policymakers throughout the coming days.
The plan would eliminate long-debated proposals like funding measures for Work, Live, Ride, which focuses on housing near transportation hubs, a policy known as fair share and some off-street parking requirements. Some towns have argued these amount to mandates that don’t account for the individual needs of municipalities across the state.
Advocates of those measures and housing experts, however, have argued that the status quo and lack of state-level intervention has not moved the needle as much or as quickly as needed. The state lacks tens of thousands of units that are affordable and available to its lowest income renters.
H.B. 5002 was a priority of the Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate and passed toward the end of the most recent legislative session. Gov. Ned Lamont, whose staff worked with lawmakers on the bill, vetoed it in the face of mounting opposition.
Lamont said he wanted to find a way to get towns on board, and asked lawmakers to come back in a special session to pass a reworked housing bill.
House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, said he met with the groups Thursday morning to discuss their plan.
“I’m not surprised to hear that there are things they would like to cut,” he said. “So I didn’t really need to engage in that conversation and nor do I agree that that’s what we would do, but there are certainly changes we’re already making that they weren’t aware of in those areas.”
Lawmakers and housing advocates have been skeptical about whether it’s possible to have a meaningful bill with widespread buy-in from towns that have historically been reluctant to allow more affordable housing or multifamily housing in their neighborhoods.
The town organizations’ plan would eliminate most of the portions of the bill that housing advocates have said are the most meaningful, including the measure to end off-street parking minimums for smaller towns, the prioritization of state grants for towns that build near train and bus stations, a measure to allow conversion of commercial property to residential without a special hearing and the policy known as fair share that would require towns to plan and zone for a set number of units of housing.
Instead, their plan would require towns to work with their regional councils of government, or COGs, to assess housing needs, then set goals and make plans once every 10 years. It would also have the state offer new funding as incentives for towns to implement their plans. Supporters say this would reduce onerous burdens on towns and allow each part of the state to set goals that make sense for them.
But opponents, including housing experts, say without enforcement mechanisms it would do little to actually increase the state’s housing stock.
“It’s sort of where we are right now, just shuffling the deck and looking at the conversation from a regional standpoint rather than a municipal standpoint, but not really increasing expectations on anyone,” said John Guszkowski, co-chair of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association’s government relations committee.
Guszkowski added that working regionally and working more with the councils of government is a positive step for town planning in Connecticut, but that needs to be paired with ways to hold towns accountable.
Rojas said accountability has been a political sticking point for years.
“I don’t want to engage in this kind of business of punishing communities for not doing X or Y,” he said. “That’s not how I want to approach this. But that poses challenges.”
As originally passed, H.B. 5002 prioritized certain state infrastructure grants for towns that made changes to their zoning to allow more housing.
Matt Hart, executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments, said accountability is one issue the group plans to work on as they keep developing the proposal.
“This is just a suggested framework that we focus more on: how do we leverage the COGs in our relationships, where we can help, where we can convene and help lead and bring our towns together to work regionally?” Hart said.
“We haven’t come to a final solution on that, like, what’s going to compel the towns to actually do this?” said Brian O’Connor, director of public policy for the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.
Betsy Gara, executive director of the Council of Small Towns, said regional efforts would particularly help smaller municipalities that might not have full-time planning staff. She said she wants to see regional housing needs assessments that account more for water and sewage capacity than past studies have.
“This empowers a municipality to provide input through the COG into what that housing goal should be,” she said. Under the plan, Gara added, each town would have their own goals set in partnership with the COG.
Rob Blanchard, the governor’s spokesman, said in a statement that Lamont appreciates the work the organizations put into the proposal to “meaningfully address our housing crisis.”
“One thing we have learned from that work is that local leaders need to be bought in to the solution and rather than simply opposing efforts, they are coming to the table with ideas,” Blanchard’s statement said. “The Governor remains committed to continuing to collaborate with local leaders, legislators, and advocates on improving the housing bill ahead of eventual passage.”
Rojas said he thinks the meeting with the groups was overall positive.
“There is more alignment on ultimate goals than people otherwise want to let on,” he said.
Legislative leaders say they’re planning for a special session in the fall.
Ginny Monk is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org).