Many of Connecticut’s native-born young professionals still live with mom and dad – often because they can’t afford to leave the nest.
And those who do leave often fly right out of the state’s borders, say supporters of a proposed housing incentive: Many residents ages 25-34 are headed for states with lower housing costs.
“We’re leading the nation in a dangerous statistic,” said William Cibes, chairman of the HOMEConnecticut campaign’s committee, during a presentation on the bill May 21.
According to the group, Connecticut has lost a higher percentage of that young adult age group than any other state since 2000, in large part because of skyrocketing housing costs during that same time.
HOMEConnecticut, sponsored in the legislature by the Planning and Development Committee, would offer incentives for municipalities to create high-density housing. The program is voluntary, but towns that adopt the plan would create housing zones where at least 20 percent of the units would have to be priced for people who make 80 percent of the area median income.
The rest of the units would be at market price, creating mixed-income zones. The town would get control over how many new units it wants, what the development looks like and where it’s located.
Program Pays
Agree to do it, and you get zoning and building incentive payments and reimbursement for any additional school costs created by schoolchildren moving into the new units.
Supporters say the program would essentially pay for itself: It would get its start with $9-$10 million in seed money from the current budget surplus and the state could leverage tax revenues from the construction and new jobs created by the plan.
Municipalities would get $2,000 for every unit properly zoned, and the program will generate revenue in about four years — in addition to hanging onto a vital segment of Connecticut’s population. In the first year, the program would cost an estimated $4 million, said David Fink, policy director for the statewide nonprofit Partnership for Strong Communities.
The plan is modeled after a similar program in Massachusetts called the Smart Growth Plan, adopted in 2004.
Robert Fishman, a partner at the Boston law firm Nutter, McClennen and Fish, has represented developers involved in Smart Growth. He said some Bay State municipalities hesitated at first because they feared they’d lose control over the developments. Once the town adopts their plans for the program, it’s essentially locked in — there’s no tinkering allowed down the road.
That made some nervous, he said, and those who have embraced the plan have tried to be as precise as possible with the plans before adoption.
Beth Mitchell, another partner at Nutter, said while the smart-growth housing plan has generated townhomes, apartments and condos, it hasn’t really created a lot of starter homes.
It’s too early to tell whether Massachusetts’ plan will help keep young professionals in the state, she said, but more municipalities are warming up to the idea.
“It does seem to be catching on,” she said.
