Despite receiving public legislative support earlier in the session, a bill that would push for more density near train and bus stations — known as Work, Live, Ride — appeared unlikely to come up for a vote in the Senate before the midnight deadline on Wednesday.
Advocates’ hopes were buoyed less than a week ago when the House passed the bill with a solid margin. But as the final hours of the session ticked by, it became more clear that the bill wouldn’t make it through.
House Bill 5390 was among the bills that drew strong Republican pushback this session, and didn’t have the entirety of the Democratic caucus on board. On the last day of session, it can be tough to get controversial bills through because Republicans hold the power to filibuster until midnight, when the legislative session concludes.
“It shouldn’t be this hard to get smart things out of the Senate,” said Pete Harrison, Connecticut director of the Regional Plan Association. Desegregate Connecticut, the organization that pushed for Work, Live, Ride, is a program of RPA.
The bill would offer priority for certain state infrastructure funds to towns that establish transit-oriented districts, or neighborhoods that allow certain types of multi-family housing “as-of-right,” meaning without a special hearing through the local zoning board.
Transit-oriented development is a land use concept that’s grown in popularity across the country as states and localities try to find ways to reduce sprawl and increase housing supply.
In the early evening, Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said lawmakers were still negotiating how long they’d debate different bills. By 9 p.m., Planning and Development Committee leadership said it wasn’t likely to be called.
Committee ranking member Sen. Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, said he believed it was dead. Fazio opposed the bill in committee, citing concerns about the structure and forcing top-down legislation on towns.
“I highly doubt it,” said committee co-chair Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon, on whether the bill would pass. “ …. It’s the timing.”
Committee co-chair Sen. MD Rahman, D-Manchester, said late Wednesday that it’s still on his priority list and he hopes it will be called, but that time is running low. He said Republicans had debated bills for several hours, a fairly common practice toward the end of the session.
“This bill would help a lot of people,” he said. “They are holding us back.”
“The problem is, it’s almost 9 o’clock,” Rahman said, alluding to the midnight deadline. “What are you going to do?”
Senators on Wednesday afternoon gave final passage to a wide-ranging housing bill that would encourage more light-touch density — or middle housing — such as duplexes, triplexes and townhomes. It would also push the conversion of abandoned nursing homes into apartments and require 45 days’ notice of rent increases for tenants in the state, marking the most substantial piece of housing legislation passed this session.
Harrison said he was glad to see support for middle housing, but thinks more could have been accomplished. He echoed statements of other advocates, saying the filibuster got in the way.
Still, he said, it was encouraging to see the Work, Live, Ride bill get further than it has in past sessions.
Early in the session, legislative leadership said this session would be unlikely to see big swings at the state’s housing shortage and that they instead planned to “chip away” at the issue.
Connecticut lacks more than 92,000 units of housing that are affordable and available to its lowest income renters. Thousands are paying too much in housing costs and homelessness is increasing.
Housing experts and research has shown that much of the state’s lack of affordable housing is tied to restrictive local zoning policies. Historically, local governments have used zoning as a tool to make it harder for people with low incomes, particularly people of color, to live in certain neighborhoods.
“It is the No. 1 crisis we’re facing now, and it’s not getting any better,” Harrison said.
The bill’s demise comes after a disappointment for housing advocates last year when lawmakers announced they’d stripped all the measures that would increase affordable housing stock from their signature housing bill.
The bill has also drawn fierce opposition from Republicans and local officials and groups, particularly from Fairfield County. Opponents say they’re worried the bill imposes one-size-fits-all solutions on towns, could dilute local control and that towns that don’t opt-in would miss out on access to certain state infrastructure grants.
The bill has specific language saying no towns will be disqualified from state money if they don’t create the transit districts.
“When I look at this bill today, I look at it as another step in the erosion of local control and the zoning rights of municipalities across the state,” said Planning and Development ranking member Rep. Joe Zullo, R-East Haven, when the bill passed through the House.
Harrison said his group will likely push for transit-oriented development next session.
“To me, it’s an inevitability that we’re going to pass Work, Live, Ride eventually,” he said.