February 9, 2026
At his Opening Day Address to the Connecticut General Assembly, Governor Lamont recommended a $28.7 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2027 that largely maintains funding for affordable housing from the two-year budget adopted at the end of the 2025 legislative session.
Rental Assistance Program Funding Adjusted
Governor Lamont proposed a $10M baseline adjustment to maintain housing stability for 6,400 existing Rental Assistance Program (RAP) voucher holders amid rising housing costs.
“We appreciate the Governor’s proposed increasing RAP funding to keep up with increasing rents. We know that further expanding RAP funding to increase the number of households with a voucher is one of the fastest ways for our state to improve housing affordability, prevent homelessness, and protect Connecticut families from federal funding disruptions,” said Chelsea Ross, Executive Director of the Partnership for Strong Communities.
Tens of thousands of Connecticut families who are eligible for a rental assistance voucher do not have one. They continue to struggle with rising rents – often forced to live in overcrowded or unhealthy conditions, or face eviction. The Governor notes that by expanding rental assistance, the state can “reduce homelessness and housing instability, which disproportionately impact marginalized communities.”
Bonding Preserved
The Governor’s proposed budget adjustments maintain the bonding resources authorized for housing creation programs in last year’s biennial budget. State bonding programs are critical to preserving existing affordable homes and supporting the creation of new affordable homes for low- and moderate-income households. While housing affordability is a challenge across income levels, state resources should prioritize the creation of homes affordable to Connecticut families with the lowest incomes and greatest vulnerability.
“The deepest need for affordable housing in our state is among renter households earning less than 30% of median income –about $45,928 for a family of four,” Ross said. Connecticut Housing Finance Authority’s 2023 Housing Needs Assessment estimates a gap of approximately 92,560 homes affordable to these extremely low income renter households.
Addressing Affordability
The Governor proposed a one-time rebate of $200-$400 for tax year 2024. The rebate would be available to individuals earning up to $200,000 and joint filers earning up to $400,000. An estimated 1.6 million taxpayers (2.2 million individuals) would receive the rebate at a total cost of approximately $500 million. The proposal would be funded by a one-time increase to the volatility cap threshold in FY 2026.
“A small, one-time rebate falls short of addressing the affordability issues facing Connecticut residents. For our lowest-income households already stretched by rising housing, energy, food, and health care costs, this proposed level of relief would not meaningfully improve affordability or stability for people. Addressing today’s affordability crisis will require sustained investments that reflect how hard it has become for a large portion of Connecticut’s residents to make ends meet,” said Ross.
Summary of Key Housing Adjustments in the Governor’s Budget
The Governor proposed few changes to the previously adopted FY 2027 housing budget, with modest adjustments aimed at maintaining existing services:
Rental Assistance Program (RAP) Vouchers
Governor Lamont proposed:
- $14.5M deficiency appropriation for the Housing/Homeless Services line item for the current fiscal year (FY26). RAP funding makes up most of the funding from this budget line item.
- $10M baseline adjustment to the Housing/Homeless Services line for FY2027 to maintain housing stability for the 6,400 existing RAP voucher holders amid rising housing costs. This adjustment is in addition to the $10.5M baseline increase already appropriated in last year’s biennial budget to respond to the impacts of increased housing prices on state housing programs.
- No proposed adjustments to the biennial budget appropriation of $6.7M beginning in FY27 for new supportive housing RAP vouchers, intended to support 212 HeadStart on Housing vouchers, 77 Department of Developmental Services vouchers, and 250 elderly and disabled vouchers.
In addition to existing appropriations and the Governor’s proposal to maintain current service levels, the Partnership for Strong Communities is advocating for an additional $50M to expand RAP vouchers for extremely low-income households. A $50M investment would provide housing stability for approximately 3,400 more households, a 50% increase to the existing program.
Staffing for Housing Programs
- The Governor proposed a $500K increase for the Department of Housing (DOH) to support six new staff positions to implement provisions of P.A. 25-1 (the special session housing bill) and the FY26-27 biennial bond package. These positions would support initiatives including: a homeless shower/laundry pilot program; a direct rental assistance pilot program; a middle housing development grant program for small public housing authorities; a construction industry affordable housing development plan; a deed restriction pilot program; and new public housing authority powers granted to DOH for the sale and development of state land for affordable housing. The Governor also approved 6 new staff positions for internal fiscal management while decreasing the agency’s budget by $500K for external fiscal management contracts.
- The FY26-27 biennial budget appropriated funding for two additional staff positions for asset and grant management. This continued staffing increase is a welcome adoption of a key recommendation from the Partnership’s State of Housing report which called for increasing DOH staffing capacity to keep pace with the state’s growing housing portfolio and ensure timely program implementation.
Targeting Housing Bonding Funds
- The Governor has proposed no adjustments to the bonding levels authorized in the biennial budget for affordable housing creation, totaling $518.5M in FY27. The Partnership is appreciative of the administration’s continued commitment to affordable housing creation.
We continue to urge the Lamont administration and the General Assembly to prioritize bonding for the construction of homes affordable to extremely low-income households. While programs such as Build for CT and Time to Own primarily target middle-income households, housing instability is most severe among families with the lowest incomes. Given limited resources, the state should intentionally target more subsidies toward deeply affordable homes and increase transparency around income targeting in the bond allocation process.
Interagency Housing Adjustments
- As housing affordability pressures extend to more Connecticut families, non-housing agencies are seeking innovative solutions to support their program participants who are facing housing instability. The Governor’s budget adjustments reflect this trend, including:
- A $500K proposal for DOH to collaborate with the Department of Education to support homeless youth at risk of absenteeism and educational stress due to their housing situation.
- A $480K baseline increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs Housing and Support Services for Veterans program.
- Due to increased program demands and limited housing availability, the state has proposed sunsetting the CHESS program, a federal Medicaid waiver that funds supportive services for individuals with high medical needs and unstable housing. The budget proposes transferring $1M from the Department of Public Health to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) to transition 100 existing program participants to the existing DMHAS supportive housing program.
Proposed Housing Legislation
- The Governor proposed H.B. 5092: An Act Protecting Renters from Rent Increases Upon the Transfer of Residential Property which would prohibit new owners of a rental building from raising the rent by more than 5% for the first year of ownership of the building, unless the owner has completed major renovations.
