We’ve talked about it on the show before — a potential positive of the pandemic for CT is the newfound attractiveness of living outside of major cities like New York and Boston. Last month, Gov. Ned Lamont stood in the rain next to a U-Haul truck to tout the buying boom in the state.

“More people are coming to Connecticut than ever before,” Lamont said. “Tens of thousands of people have moved or changed their address to the state of Connecticut in the last few months. They’re buying. They’re renting, and they’re building.”

But in a state where housing prices are already high, and stock of affordable housing is already too low, bidding wars with fleeing New Yorkers have been driving up the price of single-family homes, making it even harder for many Connecticut residents to buy.

Among Connecticut’s many wide gaps between rich and poor, and between racial groups, the gap in homeownership is one of the biggest. Jacqueline Rabe Thomas of the CT Mirror dug into this issue for our series “A Better Deal: Exploring Inclusive Economic Recovery” and joins us this week to discuss.

John is CT Mirror's Director of Events. A well-known and highly-regarded radio personality and moderator, he divides his time between CT Mirror — where he heads up our events program and serves as a multi-platform consultant — and the NPR / PRI program Science Friday. Previously, John was executive editor of the New England News Collaborative and the host of NEXT, a weekly program about New England. He also appeared weekly on The Wheelhouse, WNPR’s news roundtable program. His 25 years in public media also include serving as vice president of news for Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network, host of WNPR’s Where We Live, and regular fill-in host for the PRI program Science Friday in New York. He was twice recognized by PRNDI as America’s best public radio call-in show.