ALERT: Housing Bill 5002!

Next week, the legislature is going to take up House Bill 5002 – An Act Concerning Housing and the Needs of Homeless Persons.   The initial proposal was just two sentences long, BUT the strikeall amendment filed late Wednesday night is 92 pages!

This bill, being pushed by majority party Democrats, will force substantial change on our towns and will remove local control from town officials in favor of Hartford mandates.

If passed, this bill will allow developers to recover legal fees in an 8-30g affordable housing case, allows ‘as of right’ housing for apartment buildings with 2-9 units in all commercial-zoned land, eliminates all off-street parking requirements for high density housing like apartment buildings, and substantially reduces your right to protest when zoning changes are requested.

It requires all towns to establish a Fair Rent Commission, and it will also create a new Priority Affordable Housing Plan requirement that sets new rules each town must meet to reach their fair share numbers.

As for the Fair Share section of the bill, locally, Oxford has 5,091 houses and would be required to add 1,033 new, affordable housing units, Southbury has 8,826 houses and would be required to add 1,055, and Naugatuck has 13,135 houses and need to add 920!

The bill will also establish a ‘transit-adjacent community’ for towns without rapid transit or regular bus stations, but are adjacent to tows that do, and creates a ‘priority development zone’ that must contain at least 10% of the town’s land while the zoning rules are set in Hartford.

The debate will be a long one, as I, and many Republican legislators, have questions and concerns about this proposal.

If you’re as concerned about this issue as I am, please contact legislators and tell them how you feel. You can look them up on https://www.cga.ct.gov/

I know it’s a LOT to read through – https://www.cga.ct.gov/2025/lcoamd/pdf/2025LCO08974-R00-AMD.pdf

Unless and until there are substantial changes to this bill, I am a firm NO.