Rep. Callahan Opposes Omnibus Housing Bill

Hartford— A contentious zoning reform proposal calculating affordable housing needs was going to be mandated, but the bill narrowly approved 78-68 in the early morning hours on Saturday turned it into a study. This bill was brought out shortly before midnight Friday as an amendment to an unrelated bill.

“Under this bill, the Secretary of Office and Policy Management would assess the need for affordable housing, by town, for informational purposes. There is no action under this bill on what those metrics would be used for. This is the first step toward implementing “Fair Share Housing”, a policy that would weaken local control. This is a slippery slope to one-size-fits-all housing requirement for municipalities,” said Rep. Patrick Callahan (R-108).

Other provisions of the bill deal with tenants and landlords. The current law gives 30 days for landlords to pay any interest owed on security deposit and to return security deposits to a tenant after the termination of tenancy. This bill cuts that down to 21 days.

“There is also a municipal mandate with a cost for towns included in this bill. Municipalities would be prohibited from collecting any building permit application for the construction or “substantial rehabilitation” of a workforce housing development project,” added Callahan.

SB 998 was sent back to the Senate for approval on the amendment and they must take action on the bill by June 7.