The Griswold Hills apartment complex in Newington offers a mix of affordable and market-rate apartments. Housing advocates and local officials say the complex is an example of how the state's affordable housing law works. Tom Condon / CT Mirror

Two omnibus bills passed out of the Housing Committee on Thursday. The bills address a wide range of housing issues including a ban on most wintertime evictions, supports for workforce housing, measures to encourage fair housing and upgrades focused on housing in environmental justice communities.

The bills represent many of Democratic leaderships’ housing priorities for the session.

The governor’s renters rights bill also got approval from the committee. It includes civil penalties for certain code violations, limits security deposits to one month’s rent, and bans small landlord discrimination based on sexual orientation.

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.