With a slim margin, the state Senate on early Saturday morning gave final passage to the most significant piece of housing legislation to emerge from the Connecticut legislature in years.
House Bill 5002 passed the Senate on a 20-15 vote, with some moderate Democrats voting alongside Republicans.
Planning and Development Committee ranking member Sen. Jeff Gordon, R-Woodstock, debated the bill for about two hours late Friday into Saturday morning. Early in his remarks, Gordon said he was inspired by the 2,634 lines of the bill and planned to ask 2,634 questions, although he ended asking far less than that number.
“I’m very inspired to make certain that we’re defending the people of Connecticut while at the same time working with the people to see what we can do to address affordability,” Gordon said, a stack of amendments at least a foot tall on his desk.
While the bill has faced fierce opposition from Republicans, the lengthy debate is also part of a political strategy. As time left in the legislative session dwindles, the minority party holds more power to filibuster bills and talk long enough that fewer bills get passed.
“It’s extremely important that communities share in the responsibility of building housing so that we don’t segregate people based on a ZIP code or where we think they should live,” said Majority Leader Sen. Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. “We have to make sure that we are growing our state, growing our state economically and working to make our state more prosperous for everybody.”
H.B. 5002, which narrowly passed the House earlier this week after nearly 12 hours of debate, takes on zoning, parking policy and homelessness. It aims to increase housing supply, cut down on rent prices and encourage use of public transit, among other measures.
Over the past few years, housing costs have risen across the country. Homelessness has increased, and a recent study said Connecticut has the most constrained housing market in the nation.
“Housing is one of the biggest concerns when we knock on doors and talk with our constituents, every town hall, everything we hear is how housing is too scarce, it’s too expensive,” said Housing Committee co-chair Sen. Martha Marx, D-New London.
Housing has long been a politically difficult issue in Connecticut. It’s growing harder for many families to afford to live in the state, and advocates say the state needs to do more to push zoning reform and other policies to make housing cheaper.
But Republicans, some moderate Democrats and opponents of H.B. 5002 say they think control of these issues should remain with local government.
Sen. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, who has been a vocal opponent of many of the ideas in the bill, questioned the existence of a housing crisis during debate Friday.
“If there is a housing shortage, it’s simply based on the fact that there’s not enough affordable listings for housing available out there in the marketplace,” he said, saying it’s “either not being advertised, or it’s not being made available by the people that possess it.”
He said there would be a housing crisis if there wasn’t enough housing for the population, and Connecticut hasn’t seen much population growth in recent years.
Experts and economists say housing shortages are more complicated than that. The market needs vacancies in order to keep costs down, and even when there is not population growth, there can be household growth as children get older and leave their parents’ homes.
Planning and zoning
One policy in the bill, which drew political angst, is known as “Towns Take the Lead,” which is similar to fair share measures proposed in past sessions.
The proposal divides housing need among towns based on regional need and assigns each town a set number of units to plan and zone for, with those proposals required to be included in their 8-30j plans, which are due every five years.
It uses a formula to determine how many units of affordable housing towns need to plan and zone for, with a general goal to increase housing stock and cut down on segregation. The bill contains some other specifications for the housing, including requirements to build units for families and for certain income levels.
Under the bill language, towns can contest their assigned numbers and tell the legislature how many units they think they can accommodate, and lawmakers will approve or deny the towns’ proposals.
The legislation also includes Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to offer towns easier pathways to moratoriums under 8-30g. The decades-old housing law offers developers court remedies if their affordable housing proposals are denied, unless it’s for a reason of health or safety.
Towns can get moratoriums under the law by showing they’re making progress toward increasing their percentage of designated affordable housing and are exempt from the law if at least 10% of their housing stock is designated affordable.
Lamont’s proposal allows municipalities to establish a “priority housing development zone” that set a minimum density of four units per acre for single-family housing, six for duplexes or townhouses and 10 for multi-family housing.
The zones allow this type of development “as of right,” or without a special hearing before the local planning and zoning commission. Towns that adopt these zones have easier pathways to moratoriums under 8-30g.
It’s a controversial proposal among housing advocates who oppose changes to 8-30g and say too many adjustments could render the law ineffective.
The bill also aims to get towns to increase residential density near train and bus stations by prioritizing certain infrastructure funding for towns that establish “transit-oriented districts,” where certain development is allowed as of right before the planning and zoning commission.
The bill, known as Work, Live, Ride, and pushed by advocacy group Desegregate Connecticut aims to increase the housing stock and encourage people to use public transportation, which advocates say is good for the environment.
Opponents say the prioritization of funding means that towns that don’t participate in the program could risk losing funding they need for roads and bridges.
Town requirements
The bill bans minimum off-street parking requirements for certain residential developments. This allows developers to cut down on building costs by not adding as many parking spaces.
Advocates say removing parking minimums allows more housing to be built in areas that may already have sufficient street parking or are close to public transportation. Meanwhile, opponents say it weakens local control and runs the risk that developers will ignore parking needs.
The bill requires towns to allow developers to convert commercial buildings to residential with nine or fewer units without a special hearing before the planning and zoning commission.
Planning and Development Committee co-chair Sen. MD Rahman, D-Manchester, said it will use office space and other commercial areas that have been empty since the COVID-19 pandemic. Opponents say it will usurp local control.
H.B. 5002 also includes a couple of measures to help the unhoused population. It bans towns from using so-called “hostile architecture” on public property. Hostile architecture is an urban design architecture in which certain public structures are designed to discourage behaviors such as sleeping or lying down in public. It often comes in the form of spiked surfaces under bridges, narrow benches or rocks strewn across grassy areas.
Homelessness has been increasing over the past few years in Connecticut, and as shelters reach capacity, more people are forced to stay outside.
The bill also expands the number of fair rent commissions in Connecticut, mandating that any town with a population of 15,000 or more establish a commission, which are local bodies empowered to hear and make legally binding rulings on landlord-tenant issues such as complaints about unfair rent increases or housing conditions.
This year’s bill requires an additional 32 towns to have fair rent commissions and allow towns to establish regionalized commissions through their local councils of government, according to 2023 population estimates.
Supporters say the commissions help make sure rent increases aren’t excessive. Opponents fear that small towns may struggle to find people to volunteer to be members of the commissions.
The bill next heads to Lamont’s desk for his approval.
Ginny Monk is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org).