New Canaan committee to send letter to legislators, urges attention to HB 5002—s economic impact

The New Canaan Affordable Housing Committee agreed to circulate a letter to state legislators describing the town—s affordable-housing efforts and urging careful treatment of the recently debated HB 5002. Committee members asked that the letter include a specific example: the bill—s fair-share allocation, which the group said would have required about 82% of assigned units for residents earning less than $30,000, a level the committee described as unlikely to be built without significant state subsidies.

Maria, Affordable Housing Committee member, suggested adding a sentence to the draft letter calling out the fair-share example and the need for state subsidies to make such units viable. "The fair share allocation would have required 82% of the units for residents earning less than $30,000," Maria said during the discussion; committee members proposed adding a follow-up sentence that states this would be impossible without substantial funding.

Committee members debated whether the letter should also address zoning details such as middle housing and B-res regulations. Chris, Affordable Housing Committee member, said the town has a substantial stock of small multifamily and attached townhome units and is preparing zoning updates tied to the town—s Plan of Conservation and Development. Members agreed to keep the current letter focused on the committee—s accomplishments and concerns about HB 5002 and to consider a separate, more technical follow-up letter on the bill—s economic assumptions.

Several members emphasized economic feasibility. One committee member summarized the objection: at deep affordability levels proposed in the bill, the rent would not generate sufficient net operating income to finance construction without subsidy or voucher support; the committee said that absent clear funding pathways, those units will not be built.

The committee decided to circulate the draft after edits and gather signatures from members not present. The committee did not record a formal roll-call vote on the letter; members on the call verbally indicated support and planned to finalize the text and collect remaining signatures.

Committee directions: edit the draft to add the fair-share example and an explicit statement that the specified deep-affordability levels would be infeasible without state funding; consider scheduling a separate, technical follow-up meeting or memo focused on the bill—s economic implications, potentially with input from staff or local housing finance experts.