By Angela Carter, Register Staff

Community and environmental groups, developers, municipal and state officials and lawmakers will meet Wednesday for the second discussion in a five-part series on how to solve the state’s affordable housing crunch.

Shelby Mertes, chief policy analyst for Partnership for Strong Communities in Hartford, the host organization for the series, said Connecticut is losing residents in the 25-34 age range faster than the rest of the country, and housing costs factor into their decision to move.

“We haven’t been building enough (housing units), so the prices go up,” Mertes said.

Other series sponsors are the state Department of Economic and Community Development and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority.

The topic for Wednesday’s forum will be “Housing, Transportation & the Environment: The Convergence of Transit, Green Building & Brownfield Remediation.” The event begins at 8:30 a.m. at The Lyceum Resource and Conference Center, 227 Lawrence St., Hartford.

Admission is free.

“It’s a really interesting cross-section of people,” Mertes said. “The goal is really to get these smart people talking to each other to solve problems.”

Feedback from the five discussions could lead to state legislation for implementing new housing policies over time, or to executive-level changes by state and local leaders or new building trends adopted by developers, he said.

“For these problems to get solved, it’s not just one entity that’s going to do it. There are a lot of players that come together to make housing happen,” Mertes said.

The initial discussion in the series was held Jan. 27 on the topic of “Housing and the Workforce: Eliminating Barriers, Growing Labor Pool, Meeting Demand.” Continued...

• 1
• 2
• See Full Story

“Even with the latest two-year dip in housing prices — about 20 percent compared to a national decline of more than 30 percent — Connecticut is uncompetitive. Personal income growth from 2000 to 2009 was 32 percent, but median home sales prices still rose 47 percent. Connecticut is 47th in the nation in units built per capita since 2000 — the result of exclusionary zoning fueled by myths, misconceptions, a lack of subsidy and regulatory delays,” according to a briefing memo on the January forum.

On March 24, participants will cover “Housing Plus Services: Promoting Independent Living for the Elderly & People with Disabilities.”

More information on the series, registration for future forums and links to policy briefs are available at www.housingpolicy2010.org.

Contact Angela Carter at 203-789-5752 or acarter@newhavenregister.com.

• 1
• 2
• See Full Story

• 1
• 2
• 3
• See Full Story

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• See Full Story

• Return to Paging Mode