Responsible Growth Group Recommends Housing Creation
Spearheaded by State Reps. Brendan Sharkey (D-Hamden), Jack Hennessey (D-Bridgeport) and Bill Aman (R-South Windsor), the legislature's Responsible Growth Working Group has underscored affordable housing creation as a key state priority. In a draft report of its Economic Development Subgroup - the result of a summer and fall of hearings and discussions - there is a call to "invest to preserve existing housing in smart growth locations and make affordable housing a priority,"  and "fund zoning incentive payments under HOMEConnecticut." The group's wide-ranging recommendations, which cover everything from zoning to transportation development and open space preservation to revisions to streamline zoning approvals for responsible growth development, will form the basis of new legislation to be introduced in January.

Neighborhood Stabilization Program Moves Forward
The State of Connecticut has been awarded $25 million of the $3.92 billion in the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) that will be used by states and local communities to purchase, rehab and re-sell or rent foreclosed and abandoned properties.  The CT Department of Economic and Community Development, which will be administering Connecticut's NSP funds, has completed an Action Plan that has been submitted to HUD for consideration. On Dec. 15, the Lyceum will host Allan Mallach and community development and housing leaders in a forum to consider the most effective strategies for NSP funds and building strong communities. Learn more about the forum here.

HOMEConnecticut Expands Reach
Interest in the HOMEConnecticut program has exploded with 27 municipalities now having applied for planning/technical assistance grants to explore locations and markets for new Incentive Housing Zones. The Office of Policy and Management, which has strenuously administered the program, is turning around grant applications within 3-4 weeks and has already approved 22 grants, for a total of $1,023,260. More than 40 municipalities are expected to apply for the grants by the end of this month.

Administration officials are being asked to consider incentive payments for the towns that proceed with housing creation under HOMEConnecticut - and with housing preservation, restoration and creation for all low- and moderate-income residents who need it - as important infrastructure that can not only provide homes but also provide immediate economic stimulus. A piece in The Hartford Courant lays out the argument for housing as infrastructure.

Most recently, grants have been awarded to Canaan, Goshen, Norfolk, Salisbury, Sharon, and Tolland. Other towns that have received grants, ranging from $35,000 to the typical $50,000, are: Beacon Falls, Bridgeport, Colchester, Darien, East Lyme, Ledyard, New Britain, New London, Old Saybrook, Oxford, Plainville, Plymouth, Simsbury, Wallingford, Westbrook and Windham. Those awaiting word are Canterbury, East Hampton, East Hartford, and Newtown.

DEP Holds Session To Help Towns "Grow Green"
Recognizing that municipalities are seeking guidance to create housing and spark mixed-use development, the Department of Environmental Policy has created a new Municipal Primer with information, contacts and telephone numbers for wastewater, stormwater, land-use and open space preservation experts who can help planners and other municipal officials. To introduce the primer and explain key issues, DEP convened a workshop for planners and other municipal and regional officials Dec. 3. DEP officials explained how they could help towns and a highlight was David LeVasseur, OPM Undersecretary for the Office of Responsible Growth, discussing the state's "significant need for affordable and workforce housing." He explained OPM's efforts to coordinate the work of DECD, DEP and DOT to foster housing creation as part of transit oriented development, economic development and environmental policy.

Casey, CT Voices Focus: Housing Stability, School Performance
The relationship between a child's living conditions and his school success was underscored this week at "Educational Stability for Connecticut Children and Youth in Foster Care," a day-long workshop conducted by Connecticut Voices for Children and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Speakers, including successful students who have lived in foster care for most of their lives, pointed out that forced mobility - moving from home to home and, as a result, school to school - left students without social anchors, led to emotional-disturbance diagnoses, forced them into low-achievement academic tracks and prevented them from placement in honors programs they could succeed in.

Child development experts and educators have compiled years of evidence that housing instability reduces school performance. There is a wide belief that as many as a third of children in foster care are there because of housing-related issues, including a lack of affordable homes. If additional supply could be created, DCF and other government and private agencies dealing with the foster care population could theoretically reduce caseloads and save resources.

Groups Seek Faster Development of Rail Line
The Tri-State Transportation Committee, the Connecticut Fund for the Environment and other groups recognizing the connection between mass transit, housing affordability and sustainability will advocate for swifter development of the Springfield-New Haven rail line. In hearings that begin Mon., Dec. 8 (schedule here) and a planned press conference Tues., Dec. 9 (11 a.m., Legislative Office Building), advocates for the line will ask that an planned environmental impact assessment be completed faster than the planned two-year period now envisioned, and that service begin rapidly.

Housing advocates have noted that as many as 16 municipalities directly on or adjacent to the route are considering the creation of Incentive Housing Zones under the HOMEConnecticut statute. The potential for thousands of new mixed-income developments within walking distance of train stations will foster Gov. Rell's goal of sustainability and walkability, relieve taxpayers of having to subsidize the farebox by providing a marked increase in ridership, and enhance the value of the new homes - and thus the grand lists in host towns - because of the close proximity of mass transit services.

LISC Initiatives Are Helping Communities Meet the Need
The Housing Connections program has helped a third of eligible rural and suburban towns in the state address their affordable housing needs. In 2008, Housing Connections - a program of the Local Initiatives Support Coalition (LISC) - helped communities to form housing organizations, complete housing plans, identify sites to develop affordable housing and assemble financing commitments. Two developments are under construction currently as a result of this work. Learn more in this report on the program's 2008 work.

Fairfield County was ranked in the top 1.2% of all counties ranked by income in the 2000 Census, and the need for affordable housing in that area is significant. Developers in the county that wish to create affordable housing can find assistance through the Fairfield County Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing. A program of LISC, the Fund helps affordable housing developers with grants, technical assistance, and organizational services. This report explains data about the need and solutions for non-profit and for-profit developers working to meet the demand.

FEDERAL DEVELOPMENTS

Congress: Housing Problems Get Attention; Economic Stimulus the Focus of New Administration
When Congress returned to Washington the week of Nov. 17, the lame duck session failed to produce a second stimulus bill; however, Congress did pass legislation to extend unemployment benefits. Attention is now focused on the economic stimulus package that will be introduced following President-Elect Obama's inauguration on January 20, 2009.  The bill is expected to include major infrastructure investments to rebuild bridges, roads, and public institutions.  Housing advocates are pressing to include stimulus measures that will create jobs in building or rehabilitating affordable housing.   

Elements of the recent version of the Senate and the House stimulus bills that failed to pass in the lame duck session are under consideration for the 2009 Economic Stimulus measure.  These include:  

• $575 million for relocation and temporary housing assistance to renters losing their housing because the owner of the property is in foreclosure;
• $700 million for capital funding grants to public housing agencies to make capital improvements to their housing stock;
• $200 million to provide housing agencies with additional funding to alleviate the increased costs of energy;
• $3.2 billion in direct and guaranteed rural single-family housing loans.
• Other provisions include funds for the Legal Services Corporation to provide legal assistance to families whose homes are in foreclosure, funds for transportation and other services for homeless children, and for the construction of military housing and child care centers.
• Housing advocates are also pushing for big increases in capital financing for affordable housing production, including remedies to address the loss of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit market: $10 billion in initial capitalization of the National Housing Trust Fund over 2 years; 400,000 new permanent vouchers over 2 years; $5 billion for modernization or public housing; rehab and preservation of assisted multi-family programs; $2 billion for Emergency Shelter Grant program as amended in new McKinney bill and limited to prevention uses only; $110 million in CDBG funds for Disaster recovery Alabama.

"Steps that stabilize the housing market will help stabilize the economy as well," Mr. Bernanke said. "Reducing the number of preventable foreclosures would not only help families stay in their homes, it would confer much wider benefits." Read "Washington's New Tack: Helping Homeowners" in the New York Times.  

Dodd Helps Tenants in Foreclosed Properties; Freddie, Fannie Stop Evictions
Senator Christopher Dodd, D-CT, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter to James Lockhart, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Nov. 14 asking Lockhart to move quickly to have Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac implement some of the tenant protection provisions provided in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA). EESA was enacted Oct. 3; Section 109(b) of the act provides that the Secretary of the Treasury in coordination with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve Board, FHFA, HUD, and other federal entities "permit bona fide tenants who are current on their rent to remain in their homes under the terms of the lease."

Senator Dodd expressed concern with the failure of FHFA to move forward and implement this requirement, noting that two renters in the Hartford area are being evicted from their homes despite the fact that they are current on their rent.  These tenants are in homes with mortgages owned by either Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae.  A copy of Senator Dodd's letter can be found here.