McGorty, Hoydick and Gresko Call for Veto Override on Critical Affordable Housing Bill

HARTFORD – Stratford’s legislative delegation, including State Representatives Ben McGorty (R-122), Laura Hoydick (R-120) and Joe Gresko (D-121) are calling for the Connecticut General Assembly to override Governor Dannel Malloy’s veto of an affordable housing measure they worked to usher through the legislature in the final days of the 2017 session.  The governor issued his veto of the bill late Friday afternoon.

The bill, HB 6880, which had overwhelming bipartisan support in both the State House and Senate, made important changes to the state’s affordable housing laws aimed at easing the ability of Stratford and other communities to achieve a moratorium for certain affordable housing requirements under the state’s 8-30g statutory requirements.

“This bill’s wide and bipartisan support is a testament to this measure’s importance to communities of all types across the state,” said Rep. McGorty.  “We need these reforms to allow our communities to continue their work toward making sensible good-faith affordable housing choices.  The bill passed with more than enough votes to override the governor’s veto and we are calling on our leaders to do just that.”

“I am deeply disappointed that after we all worked in earnest across the aisle to develop a bipartisan measure that passed so overwhelmingly in both the House and Senate, that the governor would disregard that work and veto this important bill for Stratford,” said Rep. Hoydick.  “We are calling on our leaders in both chambers to override this veto.  The current law is an obstruction to Stratford’s ability to properly balance our affordable housing goals while maintaining responsible growth.”

“This bipartisan legislation reflects the hard work and effort Stratford has made in order to achieve the state’s 10-percent affordable housing threshold.  We will continue to work together to ensure Stratford’s good faith efforts to follow the state’s housing laws are recognized,” said Rep. Gresko.

Currently, each municipality is required to have 10% of its housing stock designated as “affordable” and current law allows developers to submit projects under the statute. If a municipality does not meet the requirements of the statute, the burden is on the municipality during the appeals process to prove the denial was for a health or safety concern.

The bill Malloy vetoed would have made it easier for a municipality like Stratford to gain an exemption, and to combat predatory developers aiming to exploit provisions of the affordable housing statutes that allow them to circumvent local planning and zoning authorities, while promoting the proper creation of affordable housing.

A veto from a governor automatically triggers a veto session in the legislature – at that time the General Assembly can decide to allow the veto stand, or they can take up the bill again.  It must pass by a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override the governor’s veto.  That threshold would be 101 votes iin the House and 24 in the Senate.  The orginal bill passed the House with 116 votes, and the Senate with 30 votes.