EAST HARTFORD – Fresh off Democratic victories in local elections across the state, Gov. Ned Lamont says he’s running for re-election with a deal in hand for a sweeping housing bill that’s been a thorny issue for the Democrat for much of his second term in office.
The 71-year-old Lamont had hinted for months that he’d be a candidate, but it was not until late Friday morning that Rob Blanchard, the governor’s chief spokesperson, told CT Examiner and other media outlets that the governor would file the required papers Friday.
Lamont faces a challenger from the left in State Rep. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden as well as from the right in State Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich. Outgoing Republican New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart is expected to join the race within the month.
For months, House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, have been negotiating a compromise housing bill after Lamont vetoed in late June what had been a centerpiece of progressive legislation on housing and development for their own party.
Asked by CT Examiner whether the Democratic landslide on Election Day had given advocates a mandate for building affordable housing, Rojas responded:
“I think the broader theme that we saw on Tuesday was really about affordability in general. And, I think one of the biggest contributors to concerns about affordability are housing costs…. It’s one of those things you take for granted when you are stable in your housing but, suddenly, when you experience job loss or you have a health issue and you can’t take care of a basic need, I think it really resonated with people.”
Lamont and Rojas, the chief negotiator for the compromise bill, were joined by about 20 others, including political leaders of both parties, housing advocates, and a number of powerful interest groups which have taken part in the negotiations, including Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the Connecticut Council of Government and the Connecticut Council of Small Towns
The compromise bill will be debated in special sessions of the state legislature next Wednesday and Thursday.
Lamont and Rojas held a one-hour press conference in a vacant East Hartford lot to illustrate what they say is the promise of the new legislation, which they said would be delivered to lawmakers of both parties on Friday.
“I know a lot of people say, ‘Oh my God, this is all NIMBY.’ … We’re not talking about backyards. We are talking about parking lots like where we are today,” said Lamont. “This is going to be housing. We are talking about shopping centers in Enfield; shopping centers that are now underutilized. … We want to be there as your partner. We want to take these underutilized pieces of property, like old shopping centers and semi-empty commercial buildings. … I want to turn them back into something that’s vibrant where young people can afford to start a family and buy their first home.”
The new proposal, they said, has the support of many town leaders who opposed the original legislation out of concern that it would take away local control, and impose arbitrary 10-year mandates – town by town – for building affordable housing or risk the loss of state funding.
The compromise bill strips away most of the so-called “Fair Share” provision, which would have put teeth in the state’s stalled efforts to increase Connecticut’s housing stock, and meet what housing advocates calculate as a 120,000 unit deficit in the available affordable housing.
The new bill tasks towns and their regional Councils of Government with developing regional plans for over the next five years to meet the needs for housing – and offers towns the chance to opt out and develop their own plans if they prefer.
Rojas, a staunch proponent of building more affordable housing in the state, admitted that the negotiations had been at times acrimonious, but touted the buy-in of elected leaders and officials at every level of government on hand on Friday.
“We have leaders from the local level, from the regional level, certainly from the administration, from the legislature, and advocates all standing here trying to focus on the prize and the prize is advancing policy that creates homes for people and for families to live here in Connecticut,” said Rojas.
Rojas said there had been a lot of give and take and a lot of compromise. He said there are “still going to be numbers,” but nothing like the mandated numbers in the previous vetoed bill.
“We’re going to do a new housing assessment, needs assessment, our regions are going to do it and then we are going to make determinations about how they should be allocated to our towns,” said Rojas. “Then our towns are going to respond and tell us exactly what is the number that makes sense based on local conditions and their local knowledge.”
Officials on hand said several concerns would be taken into consideration including the availability of water and sewer and infrastructure.
Another stumbling block in the negotiations was the loosening of parking requirements in the original legislation. The compromise bill would lower the scale of development from 24 to 16 units, which would be exempt from parking requirements. The compromise bill also caps parking requirements for larger developments and allows developers to further lower requirements by submitting a detailed study.
Guilford First Selectman Matthew Hoey, a Democrat, told reporters that “if that parking provision had gone through, it was going to exacerbate a problem in our town that our community is already looking for a solution. … We feel this bill allows for our communities to move forward, to create more affordable and middle housing, while also addressing, and this is important, the unique characteristics, challenges and constraints of our widely varying communities.”
Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick, a Republican who lost her bid for reelection in an upset on Tuesday, told reporters that the new bill was a “collaborative model. … It’s so critically important for everyone to listen to each other. … The regional aspect of it is so critical. I’m so really, really happy that we have gotten to this point and we are working together even better and I can’t wait to see the outcome of this bill.”
Hoydick is also the president of Connecticut Conference of Municipalities – a group that was key to negotiating the compromise.
Lt Gov. Susan Bysiewicz told reporters that under the Lamont administration, 14,000 new affordable housing units had been developed and 7,000 units were already under construction.
“We’re proud of the efforts we made, even with the pandemic in the middle of it,” said Bysiewicz