We are deeply disappointed that Governor Lamont has vetoed H.B. 5002. This bill represents years of work from legislators, advocates, local leaders, everyday citizens, and indeed, the governor’s own staff to address the housing shortage and climate crisis in our state after many years of inaction and dithering. H.B. 5002 represented an important step forward, but instead we are moving back.
Every day we wait as a state to act, another teacher, firefighter, or nurse can’t find a home; another new graduate or skilled worker leaves the state; another neighbor is pushed into homelessness; and another job remains unfilled. While we wait, the state looks to lose billions of dollars in economic activity. There is nothing fiscally responsible about allowing the tax base to wither by restricting housing opportunity with outdated regulations.
The data is clear: decades of exclusionary zoning have severely limited the production of homes, particularly the more diverse types of homes our population needs in the places they need them. This is the cost of inaction on housing for our state:
30% of homeowners and 50% of homerenters are cost-burdened in CT.
Homelessness in CT has risen by 13% YoY and has risen for a 3rd straight year.
CT permits only a quarter of the homes we permitted in the 1980s.
CT is tied with Louisiana with 2nd least equal distribution of income.
H.B. 5002 was a large bill that came together late in the session, but each section had been vetted in public hearings at the state and local meeting for several years. Every element of the bill was backed by empirical research, expert and non-expert supportive testimony, and common sense. Opponents, many of them seemingly unaware of the details of the bill, painted it as an assault on local control or a one-size-fits-all power grab. None of this is true. The bill does not tell towns what to do and nor does it punish them if housing is not built. The reality was - and remains - that this bill creates more opportunity for collaboration between the state and local governments while pushing local planning commissions to update their practices to address the converging housing shortage and climate change and by building more state capacity to help them.
While we are optimistic that a bill will be passed and signed in a special session largely intact, this veto is an affirmation of the status quo and a capitulation to bad faith, fearmongering, or perhaps innocent confusion. We will be making sure that Work Live Ride, parking reform, and commercial conversions remain in this bill and that the Governor maintains smart standards of accountability for local reforms.
Regional Plan Association and its DesegregateCT program are mutually committed to advocating for a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable Connecticut for all residents. We want to thank Majority Leaders Rep. Rojas and Sen. Duff; Chairs of Planning & Development Rep. Kavros DeGraw and Sen. Rahman; and Chairs of Housing Rep. Felipe and Sen. Marx for getting H.B. 5002 to the Governor’s desk. We thank the members of both parties who worked on the pieces of this bill over several years in good faith and for the legislators who voted for it. It is on Governor Lamont to step up and demonstrate real leadership to finish the job on this bill in a special session as soon as possible.
We look forward to hosting YIMBYtown on September 14-16 in New Haven. YIMBYtown is the national bipartisan pro-homes convention, and over 600 advocates, elected officials, academics, funders, and journalists will be eager to see what a blue state struggling with a housing shortage can accomplish. All eyes will be on Governor Lamont to demonstrate the state’s commitment to tackling this challenge and getting it right with a strong bill in the special session.
###
About Regional Plan Association
Regional Plan Association (RPA) is an independent non-profit organization that conducts research, planning, and advocacy to expand economic opportunity, environmental resiliency, improved health, and better quality of life in the New York metropolitan area. Since the 1920s, RPA has produced four landmark plans for the region. The most recent was released in November 2017. For more information, please visit rpa.org.
About Desegregate Connecticut
Formed in June 2020, DesegregateCT is a pro-homes coalition of neighbors and nonprofits fighting for better land use laws to make Connecticut more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable. For more information, please visit desegregatect.org
