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Hartford development leaders tell council they’ve rebuilt staffing, sped permits and launched homeownership pushes
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Summary
Department of Development Services directors presented staffing gains, permit-processing improvements and housing initiatives — including a "Lots to Homes" program — while council members pressed for more capacity at the fair-rent commission and details on program reach and costs.
At a meeting of the Operations Management Budget and Government Accountability Committee, Department of Development Services Director Jeff Aaker outlined organizational changes, said the department has 84 positions filled with seven vacancies and credited internal reorganization for faster permit processing and stronger cross‑department collaboration.
"We've taken a lot of pride and a lot of time in making sure we know where our different divisions interact," Aaker said, describing a refocused mission across the department's six divisions and leadership adjustments, including Judith Rothschild's promotion to deputy and the elevation of Rob Faircloth to operations manager.
Owen, the director of planning, said planning reviewed and approved more than 2,000 land‑use applications last year, including about 500 new housing units, and is proceeding with traffic‑safety work such as school speed cameras and neighborhood traffic calming. "Beginning with enforcement, we submitted to DOT the plan adopted by council for speed cameras in school zones," he said.
Housing Director John Cabral outlined multiple homeownership efforts. He described the "Lots to Homes" initiative, in which 18 city‑owned parcels drew more than 45 applicant teams and will prioritize homeownership (mostly two‑family homes) for households up to about 120% area median income. Cabral also described a $400,000 down‑payment assistance allocation intended to support roughly 10 homebuyers at up to $40,000 each and an employee homebuyer program that has helped 10 city employees since inception.
"We've targeted 18 city‑owned properties and received over 45 applicants," Cabral said of the lots program, adding that the city and state are planning a roughly $4 million combined construction subsidy for those lots.
Judith Rothschild, deputy director for licensing and inspections, said the department has streamlined plan review by colocating fire‑marshal reviewers with building plan examiners and improving field data entry, a shift that she said increased permit processing "velocity" by about 57% and allowed the department to process over 2,500 permit applications in the first six months of the fiscal year, generating nearly $3 million in permit revenue.
Rothschild also gave enforcement figures: the housing code side logged about 1,255 complaints and more than 700 notices of violation in the past six months, and coordinated actions including an administrative search‑warrant entry at an after‑hours event.
Blight remediation director Michael Perez described a strategy of escalating fines and, where appropriate, foreclosure and transfer to the Hartford Land Bank so the city can acquire and rehabilitate derelict properties. Perez said a university‑assisted survey identified about 405 vacant properties with structures being tracked; he reported that 47 such residential properties were renovated in 2025 with roughly $5.5 million in permitted work recorded.
Council members used the question period to press for specifics. Councilman Mitcham compared Hartford's fair‑rent commission caseload to New Haven's and asked whether the city should invest more in staffing and outreach to expand tenant protections; Cabral said New Haven staffs its commission at a higher level and that Hartford is exploring capacity‑building, mediation resources and a marketing push before expanding public outreach.
Asked about tradeoffs between funding homeownership subsidies and expanding fair‑rent staffing, council members cited rough math showing that redirecting some homeownership funds toward mediation and staffing could expand assistance to many more renters; Aaker and Cabral agreed to return with more precise cost and reach figures.
The presentation closed with Rob Faircloth summarizing DDS's FY27 request: a 5.7% departmental increase driven largely by payroll and some reclassification of staff from grant to general fund positions, while federal housing grant funding was reported as holding steady relative to previous assumptions.
The committee did not take a vote on DDS budget items at the session; presenters agreed to follow up with requested quantitative details.
