Rep. Tina Courpas Stands Against Overreach and Mandates in Omnibus Housing Bill

Hartford, CT – Today on the House floor, State Representative Tina Courpas (R-Greenwich) strongly opposed and then voted “no” on an expansive and deeply flawed housing bill.  The Bill, HB 5002, was cobbled together from at least 16 different proposals spanning multiple committees and topics, with sweeping and harmful consequences for towns and cities across Connecticut.

“This bill is the ultimate example of government overreach and a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to local planning and zoning,” said Rep. Courpas. “It imposes three new superstructures on CT’s towns: Fair Share, Work Live Ride, and the Governor’s housing plan, all at the same time, and expands the fourth framework we have, 8-30g.   It is an all-out assault on local zoning control.”

Key provisions that prompted Rep. Courpas’ opposition include:

Fair Share Housing Mandate: The bill mandates that municipalities meet 25% of their “Fair Share Allocation” of affordable housing and explicitly adopts an approach to accomplish this that locks the state into a rigid planning framework that remains untested.

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Zones:  This bill pressures towns to opt in to creating dense developments with mandated affordable housing quotas (up to 10%) and ties access to infrastructure funding to compliance with state-driven zoning guidelines.  As of right development in TOD’s can compromise the environment, sewage, congestion, and other important local considerations.

Overrides Towns’ distinction between commercial and residential zoning: The bill allows middle-housing to be built – as of right – on any lot zoned for commercial use, bypassing local input and planning considerations.  This severely compromises the distinction between commercial and residential zoning.

Attorney’s Fees for Developers: In a giveaway to developers, this section allows them to recover legal fees from municipalities if the court approves most of their proposed housing—even when towns raise legitimate concerns.

“This bill is not an effective way to accomplish the objective of affordable housing and will have profound and unintended consequences. The premise of the Bill is that CT’s towns don’t want to build affordable housing, and that is simply not true.   Greenwich and Stamford have made affordable housing a priority.  There are many drivers of housing supply and demand:  high construction costs, high interest rates, lack of economic opportunity to earn an income in CT, high electric bills.  The Bill pretends none of these exist and reduces the issue to simply placing mandates on towns to build units. I oppose it in the strongest terms.”

Rep. Courpas reaffirmed her commitment to affordable housing solutions that are locally driven, respect property rights, and take other important considerations into account, such as the environment, sewage, congestion, school crowding, and the home rule of Connecticut’s towns and neighborhoods.

Rep. Courpas can be contacted at Tina.Courpas@housegop.ct.gov or (800) 842-1423 with any questions or concerns related to state government. You can also follow her legislative activity by visiting her website, www.cthousegop.com/Courpas or on Instagram and Facebook.