My name is Melissa Kaplan-Macey and I am Vice President for State Programs and Connecticut Director for Regional Plan Association.

RPA is a research, planning and advocacy organization which has been working in Connecticut for 100 years. We are dedicated to developing and promoting ideas to improve economic health, environmental resilience, and quality of life throughout the tri-state metro region and we strongly support HB 5429 to advance transit-oriented communities in Connecticut.

The high cost of homes in Connecticut - which has been skyrocketing lately - is often assumed or accepted to be the tradeoff for the amenities our state offers. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Connecticut can be a great place to live and provide homes to people at all levels of income.

RPA research shows that the type of transit-oriented development advanced by HB 5429 is one of the most cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable ways to create more homes. This concentrates homes in areas with infrastructure, preserving natural spaces while putting new residents close to businesses and amenities.

There is broad agreement that we have an affordable housing crisis in Connecticut. The question is how are we going to solve it? There is no silver bullet solution to creating the homes that we need to meet the needs of all of our state’s residents. And we need to use all the tools at our disposal. We have to stop making excuses about why best practices and low hanging fruit like TOD aren’t right for communities in our state and move forward with concrete solutions like allowing more homes near transit. Are we going to continue to insist on zoning that only allows large lots and single family homes near transit? Are we going to continue to insist that this is how Connecticut is supposed to be?

The truth is that TOD is in Connecticut’s DNA. From the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, we developed around rail lines, trolley lines, and streetcar lines. In the later half of the 20th century, we started designing our communities around cars. I won’t go into detail about the environmental benefits of transit compared to cars. I will only point out that this kind of land use is not new or radical - quite the opposite. Think about your favorite towns in Connecticut- so many of them are walkable communities near our train stations.

In 2013, RPA, together with Partnership for Strong Communities, Connecticut Fund for the Environment, and Tri-State Transportation Campaign put together a toolkit full of great ideas for implementing TOD in Connecticut. Here we are 10 years later and not much has come of it. It’s sat on a shelf like so many plans do. Without a state role, as proposed in HB 5429, I expect that 10 years from now, we will still be having this same conversation about how to address our shortage of homes and our affordable housing crisis.

Across political, geographic, and economic boundaries, Connecticut residents have begun to acknowledge the consequences of high housing costs and are asking you for solutions.

Young people can’t afford to live where they grew up, older people can’t downsize from single-family homes to an apartment in their own community, and people employed in lower-paying jobs can’t afford to live where they work. People of color can’t access homes in dozens and dozens of communities statewide. These are not just talking points: the data bear this out.

Staffing shortages are big news across the country of late– but few states are in as severe a crisis as we are with more than 110,000 job vacancies. Although the needs of workers have shifted dramatically as a result of the pandemic, the root of our problem is stagnant population growth, attributable in large part to the state’s one-size-fits-all housing landscape.

So what are we going to do about it? TOD is an opportunity that we can’t afford to miss in Connecticut. It’s just smart planning. It’s about our state providing a proven template that towns can use so we can stop talking about the need for more homes and actually create some.

I applaud the Planning and Development Committee for holding a hearing on this legislation to advance transit-oriented communities.