Most Connecticut towns don’t allow affordable housing near their transit stations without a special permit, according to the coalition Desegregate CT. The group was behind a zoning reform bill signed into law earlier this year.
That bill allowed for more multi-family housing, but it didn’t address transit-oriented development. Desegregate CT founder Sara Bronin said only eight out of 40 Connecticut cities and towns with transit hubs make affordable housing developments easy to build.
“We know that other states are really benefiting from smarter zoning around their train stations,” she said. “And Connecticut is going to fall further behind if we don’t rethink how we zone around these areas.”
Bronin said most of the state’s wealthiest towns don’t allow multi-family housing near transit hubs, or they require large minimum lot sizes for single-family housing.
She said transit-oriented development is at the top of the group’s legislative agenda for next year.
