Separated by Design
In 2019, The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica investigated long-standing systemic housing and school segregation in Connecticut. Here’s what we found.
Separated by Design: How Some of America’s Richest Towns Fight Affordable Housing
In Southwest CT, the gap between rich and poor is wider than anywhere else in the country. Invisible walls block affordable housing and, by extension, the people who need it.
Separated by Design: This lawyer fought housing segregation. Now wealthy suburbanites want to fire his firm
Westport is the second Connecticut town this year to pressure one of the state’s leading law firms to abandon its affordable housing work — or risk losing the local school system as a client.
Separated by Design: Why affordable housing is built in areas with high crime, few jobs and struggling schools
Connecticut’s approach to affordable housing creates pockets of poverty, locking low-income people out of opportunities that are just around the corner.
Separated by Design: How wealthy towns keep people with housing vouchers out
Section 8 vouchers should give low-income people the opportunity to live outside poor communities. But discriminatory landlords, exclusionary zoning and the federal government’s hands-off approach leave recipients with few places to call home.
The Education Writers Association announced in April 2021 that “Separated by Design,” by The Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica, won first place in its National Awards for Education Reporting in the Investigative Reporting (Smaller Newsroom) category. Read more here.
IMPACT UPDATES
Senate passes controversial zoning reform bill
The legislation, which nudges towns to loosen restrictive zoning policies, now heads to the governor’s desk.
Lamont, other Connecticut officials vow to take on housing segregation
In one of the most segregated states in the nation, the governor and legislators are calling for new measures to entice towns to build more affordable housing.
Explainer
What you need to know about how Section 8 really works
We created a guide to the Section 8 program. You’ll learn how to apply, how to qualify for a voucher and what it’s like to live in Section 8 housing.
Continuing coverage
No children allowed. Are wealthy CT towns building elderly housing to keep out poor families?
Advocates say some towns, like Branford, favor elderly complexes as a way to prevent construction of affordable housing for families.
Connecticut has an opportunity to tackle housing segregation. It appears to be taking a pass.
With thousands of residents pouring into the streets this month to protest racism, some saw an opportunity to tackle segregation.
Local housing authorities give themselves perfect scores. Renters disagree.
Housing authorities say they’re helping the poor find good homes. But Section 8 voucher holders say the process is “hell.”
‘Right to Housing’ gains traction among top legislators heading into the session
‘Right to Housing’ is a popular concept in Europe, but it’s yet to gain traction in the U.S.