“Homes on Track: Connecticut — Part Two” provides a data-driven roadmap for targeting housing, transit, and infrastructure investments around Connecticut’s transit network
NEW HAVEN, CT — JULY 29, 2026 — Regional Plan Association (RPA) today released a new report identifying dozens of opportunities to create more housing and stronger, better-connected communities around Connecticut’s public transit network.
Homes on Track: Connecticut — Part Two: Building Thriving Communities Around Transit analyzes 63 rail and bus rapid transit stations across the state and identifies 19 station areas where new investment and land-use changes could unlock transit-oriented development in the near term, with another 21 offering significant opportunities in the mid-term.
The report comes as Connecticut begins implementing Public Act 25-1, including Work Live Ride, a new statewide framework that provides municipalities with tools and incentives to encourage housing growth and affordability around public transportation. Communities that establish qualifying transit-oriented districts can receive priority for state funding and technical assistance.
“Connecticut has made important progress by recognizing that housing, transportation, infrastructure, and economic development cannot be planned in isolation,” said Pete Harrison, Connecticut Director at Regional Plan Association. “This report shows where we can make progress today, where targeted investments can unlock opportunities tomorrow, and how the state can direct limited public resources where they will have the greatest impact.”
Building on RPA’s 2025 Homes on Track: Connecticut report, the new analysis evaluates station areas based on mobility and access to jobs, built form and residential density, environmental and infrastructure conditions, underutilized land, and recent housing growth. Using the most recent data available as of 2025, RPA analyzed all 63 Metro-North, CTrail, Amtrak, and CTfastrak stations in Connecticut and classified them as near-, mid-, or long-term opportunities for transit-oriented communities.
Among the report’s major findings:
19 station areas are near-term opportunities, where existing transit and infrastructure can generally support additional development and underutilized land offers potential for infill.
Another 21 station areas are mid-term opportunities, where targeted improvements to transit, infrastructure, public spaces, and local land-use regulations could unlock greater development potential.
Approximately 15,150 acres of underutilized land exist across Connecticut’s transit station areas, demonstrating the potential to accommodate more homes near existing transportation infrastructure.
CTfastrak offers significant potential for additional housing growth, with four of its 11 stations classified as near-term opportunities and another five as mid-term.
The Naugatuck Valley also shows strong potential, with five of six analyzed stations categorized as near- or mid-term opportunities.
“Connecticut’s housing shortage is fundamentally connected to how and where we allow communities to grow,” said Tom Wright, President and CEO of Regional Plan Association. “Building more homes around our existing transportation infrastructure is one of the most effective ways to improve affordability while strengthening downtowns, expanding access to opportunity, and reducing the fiscal and environmental costs of sprawl. Connecticut now has important new tools to advance that vision, and this analysis can help ensure that public investment is strategic and focused where it can unlock lasting benefits.”
“RPA’s Homes on Track analysis highlights the significant opportunity for transit-oriented housing in communities of all sizes and offers a useful framework for considering where targeted resources could help unlock that potential,” said David Kooris, Executive Director, Connecticut Municipal Development Authority. “We appreciate RPA’s partnership and thought leadership as CMDA works with municipalities across Connecticut–many of them identified in this report as near-term opportunities–in pursuing transit-oriented development.”
The report finds that different station areas will require different strategies. Near-term locations may benefit primarily from zoning changes, reduced parking requirements, streamlined permitting, and station-area improvements, while other locations will require greater investments in transit service, pedestrian connections, sewer infrastructure, flood protection, and other infrastructure.
RPA recommends using this data-driven approach to help state agencies, Councils of Governments, municipalities, and the Connecticut Municipal Development Authority coordinate planning and infrastructure investments as communities implement Work Live Ride.
“The next challenge is implementation,” Harrison said. “If we align zoning reform with smart infrastructure and transit investments, Connecticut can turn underutilized station areas into thriving communities while making housing more attainable for the people who want to live and work here.”
To read the full report, please visit: https://rpa.org/work/reports/homes-on-track-connecticut-part2
