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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 5204
February Session, 2022
LCO No. 1660
Referred to Committee on HOUSING
Introduced by:
(HSG)
AN ACT CONCERNING A NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND FAIR SHARE
PLANS FOR MUNICIPALITIES TO INCREASE AFFORDABLE
HOUSING.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2022) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "Affordable housing unit" means a dwelling unit conveyed by an 2
instrument containing a covenant or restriction that requires such 3
dwelling unit be sold or rented at or below a price intended to preserve 4
such unit as housing for a low income household for the municipality in 5
which such dwelling unit is located; 6
(2) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Housing; 7
(3) "Dwelling unit" means any house or building, or portion thereof, 8
which is occupied, is designed to be occupied, or is rented, leased or 9
hired out to be occupied, as a home or residence of one or more persons; 10
(4) "Low income household" means a person or family with an annual 11
income less than or equal to eighty per cent of the lesser of the state 12 Raised Bill No. 5204
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median income or area median income, as determined by the United 13
States Department of Housing and Urban Development; 14
(5) "Very low income household" means a person or family whose 15
income is less than or equal to fifty per cent of the lesser of the state 16
median income or area median income, as determined by the United 17
States Department of Housing and Urban Development; 18
(6) "Extremely low income household" means a person or family with 19
an annual income less than or equal to thirty per cent of the lesser of the 20
state median income or area median income, as determined by the 21
United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; 22
(7) "Multifamily housing" means a residential building that contains 23
three or more dwelling units; 24
(8) "Municipal fair share goal" means the portion of the minimum 25
need for affordable housing units in a planning region, as determined 26
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, that is allocated to a 27
municipality located within such planning region; 28
(9) "Municipal fair share plan" means a municipality's plan to achieve 29
its municipal fair share goal; 30
(10) "Planning region" means a planning region of the state, as 31
defined or redefined by the Secretary of the Office of Policy and 32
Management or the secretary's designee under the provisions of section 33
16a-4a of the general statutes; 34
(11) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Office of Policy and 35
Management; and 36
(12) "Supportive housing" means affordable housing units available 37
to persons or families who qualify for assistance in accordance with 38
section 17a-485c of the general statutes. 39
(b) (1) Not later than July 1, 2024, the secretary, in consultation with 40 Raised Bill No. 5204
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the commissioner and, as may be determined by the secretary, experts, 41
advocates and organizations with expertise in affordable housing, fair 42
housing and planning and zoning, shall establish a methodology for (A) 43
determining the minimum need for affordable housing units in each 44
planning region; and (B) fairly allocating such need to the municipalities 45
in each planning region to ensure adequate housing choice. Such 46
methodology shall rely on figures from the Comprehensive Housing 47
Affordability Strategy data set published by the United States 48
Department of Housing and Urban Development, or from a similar 49
source as may be determined by the secretary. 50
(2) In developing the methodology described in subdivision (1) of this 51
subsection, the secretary shall consider (A) appropriate metrics of the 52
minimum need for affordable housing units in a planning region to 53
ensure adequate housing choice, including the number of extremely low 54
income households in the planning region; and (B) appropriate factors 55
for fairly allocating such need to the municipalities within each planning 56
region, including the municipality's compliance with the requirements 57
of sections 8-2 and 8-23 of the general statutes with regard to ensuring 58
housing diversity and opportunities for multifamily housing and 59
housing affordable to low and moderate income households. 60
(3) The methodology established by the secretary pursuant to 61
subdivision (1) of this subsection shall increase the municipal fair share 62
goal of a municipality if such municipality, when compared to other 63
municipalities in the same planning region, has (A) more ratable real 64
and personal property, as reflected by its equalized net grand list, 65
calculated in accordance with the provisions of section 10-261a of the 66
general statutes, for residential, commercial, industrial, public utility 67
and vacant land; (B) a higher median income, based on data reported in 68
the most recent United States decennial census or a similar source; (C) a 69
lower percentage of its population that is below the federal poverty 70
threshold, based on data reported in such census or similar source; or 71
(D) a lower percentage of its population that lives in multifamily 72
housing, based on data reported in such census or similar source. 73 Raised Bill No. 5204
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(4) (A) Not later than July 1, 2024, and every ten years thereafter, the 74
secretary, in consultation with the commissioner, shall, using the 75
methodology established pursuant to this subsection, determine the 76
minimum need for affordable housing units for each planning region 77
and a municipal fair share goal for each municipality within each 78
planning region. 79
(B) No municipal fair share goal determined pursuant to 80
subparagraph (A) of this subdivision shall exceed twenty per cent of the 81
occupied dwelling units in such municipality. 82
(c) (1) Not later than July 1, 2024, the secretary, in consultation with 83
the commissioner and, as may be determined by the secretary, experts, 84
advocates and organizations with expertise in affordable housing, fair 85
housing and planning and zoning, shall establish (A) a process by which 86
municipalities shall be required to develop, adopt, and submit to the 87
secretary and the commissioner municipal fair share plans setting forth 88
the actions the municipality will take to achieve its municipal fair share 89
goal; (B) the required contents and timing for submission of such plans; 90
(C) requirements to ensure that each municipal fair share plan provides 91
for the creation of a sufficient supply of the different types of deed-92
restricted affordable housing required for meeting the minimum need 93
for affordable housing units to ensure adequate housing choice, 94
including sufficient allocations of (i) rental units, (ii) units that will be 95
available to families, including units with two or three, or more 96
bedrooms, (iii) units that will be affordable to very low income 97
households and extremely low income households, and (iv) supportive 98
housing units; and (D) policies ensuring that no municipal fair share 99
plan creates, in the determination of the secretary, undue concentrations 100
of households below the federal poverty threshold in the applicable 101
planning region. 102
(2) Not later than July 1, 2024, and every ten years thereafter, the 103
secretary, in consultation with the commissioner and, as may be 104
determined by the secretary, experts, advocates and organizations with 105
expertise in affordable housing, fair housing and planning and zoning, 106 Raised Bill No. 5204
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shall publish and appropriately disseminate technical assistance 107
materials to aid municipalities in preparing to comply with the 108
requirements of this section and shall arrange for the provision of 109
technical assistance briefings, trainings, webinars and such other 110
guidance as the secretary deems necessary. 111
(d) Not later than January 1, 2025, and every ten years thereafter, each 112
municipality shall prepare and adopt a municipal fair share plan that 113
creates a realistic opportunity for achieving the municipality's fair share 114
goal, in accordance with the process established pursuant to subsection 115
(c) of this section. 116
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2022) Not later than January 1, 2026, 117
the secretary, in consultation with the commissioner and, as may be 118
determined by the secretary, experts, advocates and organizations with 119
expertise in affordable housing, fair housing and planning and zoning, 120
shall submit a report to the joint standing committees of the General 121
Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to housing and 122
planning and development, in accordance with section 11-4a of the 123
general statutes, concerning (1) implementation of the provisions of 124
section 1 of this act; (2) the status of municipalities' performance of the 125
obligations established by section 1 of this act; and (3) recommendations 126
regarding implementation, compliance and enforcement of section 1 of 127
this act, including, but not limited to, consideration of approaches used 128
in other states for implementing and ensuring compliance with similar 129
obligations. 130
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 July 1, 2022 New section
Sec. 2 July 1, 2022 New section
HSG Joint Favorable