Elm City Communities and others ask legislature to let housing authorities build beyond municipal borders

Shanae Dron, president of Elm City Communities (ECC), told the Housing Committee she supports SB 12 67, which would allow housing authorities to develop outside their municipality of origin.

"This legislation, if passed, will enable housing authorities to develop outside our municipalities of origin, a right that is already enjoyed by other nonprofit and for profit developers in our state," Dron told the panel. She said the change would allow agencies like ECC to leverage federal funding and their in‑house development capacity to produce mixed‑income housing in towns with need but limited local subsidy capacity.

Dron described ECC's track record renovating former public housing into mixed‑income developments with strong architectural and community engagement processes, and noted housing authorities often have access to federal funding streams not available to private developers. Committee members asked whether ECC would respect local zoning and public engagement processes in towns where it sought to build; Dron said ECC uses neighborhood charrettes, local consultation, and tailored project scales to fit neighborhood character and would not seek to override local regulations.

Representative Kevin Brown asked for more detail about how ECC's planning process works and whether smaller towns should worry about large developments altering community character; Dron said ECC adapts scale and design to local context and emphasized co‑development with municipal leaders. Committee members asked staff to explore statutory language, mileage or radius limits (previously discussed in other drafts), and oversight mechanisms to balance local land use controls with expanded jurisdiction for housing authorities.

No formal committee vote occurred at the hearing.