Lea el testimonio de la Fundación
On Wednesday, March 2, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving submitted testimony to the General Assembly’s Housing Committee on Senate Bill 169, An Act Concerning a Study of the Effects of Affordable Housing Policies in the State.
Como parte de nuestros esfuerzos por desmantelar el racismo estructural y mejorar la movilidad social y económica de los residentes negros y latinos del Gran Hartford, la Fundación Hartford busca Aumentar el número de residentes de Hartford que viven en vecindarios con mayores oportunidades.. Los barrios con mayores oportunidades se definen por una variedad de factores, entre ellos, bajo desempleo, escuelas con mejor desempeño, menor delincuencia y mayor disponibilidad de viviendas asequibles y de calidad.
La Fundación Hartford busca aumentar el número de residentes de Hartford que viven en barrios con mayores oportunidades, tanto incrementando las oportunidades en los barrios de Hartford como la posibilidad de que los residentes de Hartford elijan mudarse a otras zonas con mayores oportunidades en toda la región del Gran Hartford. Para apoyar estos resultados, la Fundación invierte en iniciativas diseñadas para aumentar la estabilidad, la disponibilidad y la calidad de la vivienda asequible en la región; coordinar y aprovechar la inversión adicional en los barrios de Hartford; y fortalecer la comunidad y la conexión en los barrios de Hartford. La COVID-19 ha reforzado la necesidad de que todos vivamos en hogares, barrios y comunidades seguros y estables.
Healthy communities need a diversity of people and housing to thrive, but Connecticut’s towns are becoming even less diverse. In fact, our cities and towns have become increasingly racially and economically segregated. Two of every three persons of color in Connecticut live in just 15 of the state’s 169 towns. Connecticut is the 15th most racially segregated state in the nation and the most racially segregated state in New England. Exclusionary zoning practices have fostered this segregation for decades which has had devastating consequences on residents, communities, and our state’s economy.
We know that the vast majority of deed restricted affordable housing, as well as naturally occurring affordable housing (such as multi-family homes and apartment buildings) are concentrated in urban areas such as Hartford. This segregation of housing results in concentration of poverty, primarily impacting Black and Latino communities. The Hartford Foundation supports efforts to generate diverse housing, including more affordable housing, in higher opportunity areas throughout the state, providing residents with more choices about where to live.
Hartford residents that wish to move to neighboring communities do not often get that choice. In 2019 the Hartford Foundation provided a grant to support residents in Clay Arsenal Apartments, Barber Gardens, and Infill in Hartford who wanted to move to areas of opportunity. All three complexes had their contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development terminated due to conditions that threatened residents’ health and safety. The Foundation awarded grants to the Center for Leadership and Justice and Open Communities Alliance; both organizations worked with tenants to provide leadership training, legal assistance, and technical advice to navigate the complex housing situation and relocation process. Of the 150 Clay Arsenal families who were relocated, 61 percent wanted to move to Hartford suburbs including West Hartford, Glastonbury, and Windsor. However, the timing of the relocation process and lack of affordable housing options in communities outside of Hartford meant that most families had to relocate to housing in the same, or similar, segregated neighborhoods.
The lack of housing diversity—including affordable housing in suburban communities—has existed for generations. In 1989, the legislature took the wise step of enacting the Affordable Housing Appeals Procedure (referred to by its statutory citation as “8-30g”) to ensure that suburban towns recognized their responsibility to make housing more affordable to people of diverse incomes, including essential workers, young families and senior citizens. Despite claims to the contrary, 8-30g has had success, leading to the creation of more than 7,500 affordable housing units across the state. It moved towns to develop thousands more homes for residents who otherwise would not have had the opportunities those homes have provided.
La Sección 8-30g no representa una intrusión injusta en la autoridad de zonificación local, ya que no obliga a ningún municipio a construir viviendas. La regulación simplemente garantiza que, cuando un promotor inmobiliario proponga construir viviendas inclusivas, el municipio deberá justificar su oposición. Muchos municipios de Connecticut no ofrecen a sus residentes viviendas más pequeñas, más densas y asequibles, a poca distancia de tiendas, servicios y transporte público, que el estado necesita para prosperar.
As we have seen with the Clay Arsenal example, Section 8-30g is not a panacea but represents a vital tool to promote the development of more affordable homes to ensure resident choice in housing. As we look to develop additional policies to expand access to affordable housing throughout the state, Section 8-30g helps to ensure that a town cannot avoid affordable housing development by enacting exclusionary local zoning policies or cite a lack of demand for housing. Furthermore, towns looking to develop affordable housing can achieve a four-year moratorium from Section 8-30g. This provides municipalities the time to create their own plans to develop affordable housing without state involvement. Towns that fail to achieve these goals should not be looking to overturn effective state policy, but rather work to improve their local regulations.
The Foundation looks forward to continuing its work with policymakers, nonprofits and residents to develop effective long-term policies to ensure that all Connecticut families have access to quality, affordable housing in higher opportunity neighborhoods.