The construction of affordable housing off of Westport’s highly commercialized Route 1. Jacqueline Rabe Thomas / CtMirror.org

The fair share bill, which would require towns to plan and zone for a certain number of affordable housing units, got approval from the Housing Committee on Tuesday.

House Bill 6633 would mandate an assessment of the need for more affordable housing, and towns would divide that number of units up based on the needs of the region.

It’s one of a couple of major zoning bills proposed this session. Housing experts have long said restrictive local zoning ordinances make it difficult to build multi-family housing in Connecticut.

The fair share bill has been criticized by local and state officials, many of whom are from Fairfield County, because they say it reduces local control and doesn’t take into account the unique needs of individual towns.

Proponents of the bill say it would increase the affordable housing stock as the state faces a housing crisis and cut down on segregation.

Ginny is CT Mirror's children's issues and housing reporter and a Report for America corps member. She covers a variety of topics ranging from child welfare to affordable housing and zoning. Ginny grew up in Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas' Lemke School of Journalism in 2017. She began her career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she covered housing, homelessness, and juvenile justice on the investigations team. Along the way Ginny was awarded a 2019 Data Fellowship through the Annenberg Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California. She moved to Connecticut in 2021.