CT Republican Lawmakers Respond to Findings in Corporate Housing Acquisition Task Force Report

HARTFORD, CT —Several Connecticut Republican lawmakers issued the following statement regarding the Corporate Housing Acquisition Task Force Report:

“The Corporate Housing Acquisition Task Force Report is not a serious or factual assessment of Connecticut’s housing needs. It is a politically driven document built on propaganda and ‘fair share’ formulas that amount to little more than fuzzy math.  The outcome of this report was predetermined just by the selection of the task force members, all of whom have shown a commitment to removing local control from cities & towns and also undermining private property rights.

The report cannot even agree on how many housing units are supposedly needed, with estimates ranging anywhere from 120,000 to 380,000. A discrepancy that large exposes how unreliable the underlying analysis really is. Yet based on these shifting numbers, municipalities are being pressured to accept thousands of new affordable housing units, in some cases exceeding 10 percent of their existing housing stock.

The Task Force ignores real-world constraints such as infrastructure capacity, school overcrowding, public safety resources, utilities, environmental limits, and job availability. Instead, it promotes a one-size-fits-all mandate that undermines local land-use authority and forces high-density development into established communities.

Connecticut’s housing problems are driven by high costs and excessive regulation, not by a lack of state control over local zoning. This report pushes an ideological agenda that would make housing affordability worse, not better. Connecticut needs practical, market-based solutions that expand housing opportunities and respect local decision-making not propaganda masquerading as policy.”

-Sen. Rob Sampson, Rep. Tony Scott, Rep. Steve Weir, and Rep. Arnold Jensen