CT Insider | By Chelsea Ross
On June 23, Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed H.B. 5002, one of the most promising housing reform bills our state has seen in years. In doing so, he sided with the loud voices of the “No-Growth, No-Opportunity Coalition” instead of the hundreds of thousands of families who need affordable homes.
The governor admitted that much of the opposition to the bill’s case was built on “gross misrepresentation.” He vetoed the bill anyway, citing concerns about it undermining towns’ self-determination on housing. He promised he was “committed to working together with the General Assembly and all stakeholders to swiftly enact a stronger, more balanced, and more effective housing plan during a special session this summer.” Summer has passed. It is past time to act on housing.
Delegating land use decisions to towns has not mitigated our housing shortage. Again and again, a handful of “NO” voices at local land use commissions leads to new homes not being created, and thus limiting choices, affordability, and opportunities for families. In 2024 alone, Connecticut resident Casey Moran documented at least 2,000 homes denied by local boards. With a shortage in our state of almost 100,000 homes for just our lowest income families, our lack of action is deeply troubling.
Post veto, municipal membership associations quietly sent their solution to the governor. We only know of this thanks to an open records request from reporters with CT Mirror. Their plan? Different planning. Respectfully, families cannot live in plans. They need homes. More meetings and studies will not shelter people tonight or tomorrow. It will not create affordability for the mom who is not sure how she will pay the rent next month.
H.B. 5002 was not radical. It included reforms aimed at increasing our housing supply, supporting people experiencing homelessness, promoting equity, and aligning local zoning with existing state housing law. It was built on compromise, and contained incentives, not mandates, for towns to accelerate the creation of more affordable homes. It passed with majority support in both chambers. If the provisions of the bill do not go forward, here is just some of what you can expect will continue:
• People experiencing homelessness will miss out on basic supports. Without the bill, there won’t be a program for mobile showers and laundry services, and towns can keep installing “hostile architecture” designed to deter unhoused people from using public spaces.
• First-time home buyers lose out on a new savings tool. There won’t be a tax-deductible savings account for first-time homebuyers with employer matching, which could have helped more young people afford their first home.
• Renters in smaller towns won’t have protections. Unless you live in a bigger town, you may still not have access to a fair rent commission to help with disputes, leaving tenants in 32 towns without this safeguard.
• Vacant and underused commercial buildings in your town are less likely to be reused as housing. Towns won’t be required to allow options such as duplexes or triplexes in those areas, so many buildings will stay vacant instead of becoming homes.
• More housing won’t be built near train stations or bus lines. Without incentives, many towns won’t prioritize growth in these areas, so costly and environmentally harmful sprawl will continue.
• Parking lots will keep taking up too much land in many towns. Local boards will still be able to block projects because they don’t meet outdated parking rules, leading to more pavement, less walkability, and more sprawl.
• A handful of neighbors can still dictate the future of land use in your community through an outdated “protest petition”, controlling your town’s future growth and preventing new homes from being built.
• Towns won’t get extra technical help with housing. The state won’t fund regional experts to help towns plan and build, even though towns often say they need this the expertise to move projects forward.
These are not abstract policy details. They are barriers that keep families locked out of opportunity, workers commuting from farther away, and young people leaving Connecticut altogether.
H.B. 5002 wasn’t a silver bullet. No single bill can solve our housing woes. But it was important, incremental progress toward systemic change. I thank our legislative leaders and the majorities in the House and Senate who passed it. Now, they must return in a special session and pass meaningful housing reform again, this time with Governor Lamont’s signature. Connecticut cannot afford another season of delay. We cannot keep saying “NO” to homes, to families, to opportunity. It is time to say yes.