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Report: Connecticut Needs At Least 86,000 More Affordable Housing Units

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The state of Connecticut doesn’t have enough housing for tens of thousands of its poorest residents, and the problem is getting worse. That’s according to a new report from affordable housing advocates.

The state needs at least 86,000 homes for its lowest-income residents — those who make 50 percent or less of the median income in their area.

Christie Stewart is with Fairfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity.

“What we need to be building, how we need to be building our sort of limited housing resource, we need to be much more strategic. And so what this report has done is targeted the need in a way the state hasn’t done before,” Stewart said.

Stewart said more targeted investment could help alleviate the state’s housing crisis — like more specific requirements for developers who get tax credits for low-income housing.

She said Fairfield County feels most of the brunt of housing inequity in the state — but that housing is also disproportionately unaffordable in cities like Hartford and New Haven.

Davis Dunavin loves telling stories, whether on the radio or around the campfire. He started in Missouri and ended up in Connecticut, which, he'd like to point out, is the same geographic trajectory taken by Mark Twain.