Hartford Courant | By: Don Stacom
While the overwhelming focus of debate in Connecticut legislative races is on taxes, affordability, energy costs and how to deal with the Trump administration, voters are also hearing from both sides about affordable housing and the 8-30g law.
Not surprisingly, most Democrats are emphasizing wider access to reasonably priced homes and apartments, saying their policies help more middle class workers afford to live in affluent towns and more working class people get into otherwise unattainable mid-range suburbs.
But Republicans frame the argument differently, campaigning on restoring local control of development — specifically protecting small and mid-sized communities from locally unwelcome mid-rise apartment complexes that have been appearing across the state.
As developers use 8-30g to advance four- and five-story building plans in suburbs that otherwise wouldn’t consider them, both political parties are saying voters should look at what’s happening.
The GOP is hammering the issue of local control, especially in communities where 8-30g has become a political lightning rod. Small, wealthy Fairfield County towns have been a particular target.
“8-30g is posing an existential threat to Ridgefield as we know it,” Blake Consentino, Republican candidate in the 111th House District, said in a campaign video.
“A decades-old housing law that allows greedy builders, developers and big money to steamroll the will of the people of Ridgefield, building whatever high rise, apartment, condo or even skyscraper they want in our town. And we have no course of action to stop it.”
The Republican candidate for lieutenant governor focuses on the frustration in some suburban neighborhoods about the state law that bypasses local zoning rules.
“Towns across Connecticut continue to struggle under 8-30g, a statute that allows developers to override local zoning boards unless a project poses a clear health or safety risk,” Matt Corey said in a policy statement. “Communities feel bullied, stripped of their voice in shaping the places they live. That’s not how representative government is supposed to work.”
The 8-30g law affects only communities where less than 10% of the housing is considered affordable by state guidelines. That means large cities and poor towns aren’t affected, but wealthier communities — which often fall below the 5% mark — have become popular places for 8-30g developers.
In communities where multiple developers have invoked 8-30g despite community opposition, some Democratic candidates don’t follow the party leadership’s line.
The Greenwich Sentinel reported that at a recent forum, Democrat Jill Oberlander, candidate for the town’s 36th Senate District seat, said that the law should be amended or repealed, and stressed her support for community zoning authority.
But most Democrats contend that 8-30g is called into play only when towns haven’t already done enough to expand housing.
“8-30g is a reactionary policy, not a proactive one,” said House Majority Leader Jason Rojas.
Rojas said Friday he’s convinced that too few people see the connection between the 8-30g law and the ability of nurses, teachers, firefighters, police, or restaurant workers to live in upscale towns where they work.
“If you ask people if they would like a more affordable home, the answer is ‘yes.’ The folks who oppose 8-30g do a really good job vilifying it.”
Democratic Rep. Geoff Luxenberg, who represents Manchester, is even more outspoken.
“It is hypocrisy at its finest when Republicans make housing, gas, diesel and groceries outrageously unaffordable for families in Connecticut through tariffs, corruption and war and then complain about affordable housing when towns literally have access to state money to help them comply and the people in CT desperately want it,” he said Friday.
“Of course Republicans are against affordable housing: They are against affordability period,” he said.
State housing advocates have said 8-30g needs adjustments, but defend it as bringing desperately needed affordable housing into communities that for decades have worked to keep it out.
“Section 8-30g applies when towns have failed to provide even a modest amount of affordable housing,” Sean Ghio, policy director at the Partnership for Strong Communities, said in a statement earlier this year. “It acts a backstop when exclusion has become the norm.
“When communities consistently fail to allow any meaningful amount of affordable housing, the consequences extend far beyond real estate,” he said. “They affect our access to education, employment and economic mobility.”