Gov. Dannel P. Malloy joined with state Department of Housing Commissioner Evonne M. Klein to tout the funding, rehabilitation and preservation of 11,881 affordable housing units in 2015. That represents 66 percent of the units during Malloy’s first five years in office.
Malloy said in a statement more has been accomplished in the last few years than the last few decades in terms of affordable housing. Since taking over in 2011, the state has provided $1 billion in funding through Department of Housing and Connecticut Housing Finance Authority funding for 17,897 housing units across Connecticut. Of that total, 6,475 are still to be built, with 5,730 considered affordable.
Last year the state was also recognized for being the first nationally to end chronic veteran homelessness. A 2015 report from the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness found that Connecticut last year had the lowest population of homelessness in a point-in-time count ever, which included a 32 percent decrease in unsheltered homelessness over the year and a 21 percent decrease in chronic homelessness.
[Editor’s note: this article has been clarified since first posted to better reflect the statewide investment in new housing units, not just affordable housing.]
