The debate in Connecticut continues about housing, with no resolution in sight. The Gov. Ned Lamont rightly vetoed HB5002 due to opposition from towns who were concerned about overreach and implementation.
There is a way forward without a heavy handed, top-down bill that does not recognize the variety in the state.
One of the issues from HB 5002 was that it was a mash up of 30 something bills that do not seem coordinated for implementation. Fair share was included, but does not recognize private market middle housing for improving supply nor pricing of housing. Fair share seems to prioritize large, multi-million-dollar complexes from distant owners and managers of property that many of whom seek government grants and tax deferrals/abatements.
The rest of us do not qualify for those benefits and the distant owners may not care one iota about what they leave behind. Some of these projects are started to falsely pretend to be housing when they are really natural resource extraction, leaving towns with no way to actually enforce the construction of the project they changed the zoning rules for.
Our country was founded on free will and choice. Political polarization is often the result of one perspective telling others how they need to live their lives, despite being in different circumstances. Whether the culture wars of the right, or progressive admonitions of the left, resentment is bred among half of the population. There is a better way.
In the 2023 and 2025 sessions, Montana decided to build housing like we used to, with much less restrictive zoning. Some zoning is good but perhaps has become too stringent in the 21st century; nullifying meeting the needs of people now, vs 50 years ago. Many people like the old town centers and cities that were mixed use, intensively developed, walkable with a variety of retail and service providers readily accessible. That is not for everyone, but a choice that many would like to have again.
The 2023 session in Montana outlined potential 15 changes for municipalities of over 5,000 people to consider and required adoption of five. That lets towns decide what plan is appropriate for their residents and includes all sorts of ideas to expand affordable housing. Whether detached or attached, subsidized or not, cheaper housing all shares lower land cost from increased units/acre and smaller construction cost per unit.
Choice is the key to acceptance by the general public that elected leaders are listening to their constituents.
Montana’s 2023 session SB 382 required towns to adopt five of the following 15 changes:
- Allow for at least two residential units per lot on the majority of land zoned residential
- Allow mixed-use zoning
- Zone for increased density near transit, employment, higher education, and other appropriate population centers
- Provide decreased parking requirements
- Reduce/eliminate local fees for development including housing
- Allow Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) in all zones
- Allow single room occupancy developments
- Create Community Land Trusts and rezone those Land Trust Lands to higher density
- Reduce or eliminate impact fees for ADU’s
- Allow triplex or fourplex residential units/lot
- Reduce or eliminate minimum lot sizes
- Reduce or eliminate aesthetic, material, shape, bulk, size, height, floor area, and other massing requirements
- Provide zoning that specifically allows or encourages the development of tiny houses
- Reduce or eliminate setback requirements
- Allow residential development in all areas zoned to allow office, retail, or commercial development as a permitted use.
I do not walk in each person’s shoes in Connecticut, and do not expect carte blanch acceptance of this list; however, as the Chair of the Independent Party of Connecticut, I firmly believe in the party’s commitment to listening to the best ideas no matter where they originate.
I believe Montana’s approach is a good start to revise HB 5002 to a bill that can pass and be accepted by the majority of stakeholders including homeowners, renters, state and local government, developers, property managers and landlords.
Our problem with the cost of housing and the availability of housing in the state is solvable when you have the right leaders in the room representing every stakeholder and collaborating as empathetic peers to drive towards the best outcomes.
More choice and market-driven solutions will solve the housing problem, not government largesse. Looking to other states for inspiration can provide us with a proven path forward that could be adopted to let all Connecticut residents have the life they aspire to.
Chip Beckett, a veterinarian, is Chair of the Independent Party of Connecticut and former Chair of Glastonbury Town Council.