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State leaders deployed the term frequently this week, beginning with Gov. Lamont in his budget speech Wednesday.
“Millions of dollars for workforce training will go to naught if we don’t have enough housing where workers can afford to live,” he said. “In addition to increasing investments in affordable housing, our budget proposes an additional $200 million for workforce housing.”
So what qualifies as “workforce housing?”
Sen. Tony Hwang dropped the term before the Commerce Committee while presenting Senate Bill 849, which would expand the state’s “Learn Here, Live Here” homeownership incentive for graduates of Connecticut schools.
“We have a housing crisis in the state of Connecticut, but most of our solutions is about rental solutions,” he said. “Homeownership means more than just a roof over your head. It is an investment, it is a commitment.”
Rep. Hilda Santiago brought it up during her presentation of House Bill 6470 to the Banking Committee, which aims to make mortgages more accessible to people purchasing mobile homes.
“This financing of mobile manufactured homes will increase low-cost homeownership. It will increase workforce — remember that word — workforce family housing in the state,” she said, with a smile.
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