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Housing emerged as a huge winner in Connecticut's 2005 General
Assembly session with four substantive victories.
The legislature committed to an additional 500 units of supportive
housing, created a Housing Trust Fund of $100 million, increased
general obligation bonds with a set-aside to address state moderate-income
housing, and passed a bill expected to generate $27 million annually
for four critical preservation and development concerns: affordable
housing, farmland preservation, open space, and historic preservation.
The crown jewel is the legislature's creation of a Housing Trust
Fund of $100 million — $20 million annually for each of the
next five years. Originally the fund was to be capitalized using
unclaimed assets that accrue to the state, but the Governor's Office
of Policy and Management (OPM) and legislative leaders chose instead
to use general obligation bonds. Proposed last January by State
Treasurer Denise L. Nappier, the Housing Trust Fund will be administered
by the Department of Economic and Community Development.
Governor M. Jodi Rell and the legislature expanded the state's commitment
to supportive housing as the proven remedy for chronic homelessness
by supporting the Next Steps Initiative, which will fund an additional
500 units of supportive housing over the next two years. The governor
also supported the development of 500 additional units in the following
three years. The housing includes the leasing of existing apartments
as well as development of new or rehabbed housing underwritten by
the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority. Connecticut, which has
become a national model for coordinated efforts to develop this
type of housing, currently has 2,300 units of supportive housing
in 26 communities around the state.
The governor also signed a bill sponsored by Senate President Pro
Tem Donald Williams that creates a fund
for affordable housing and preservation of farmland, open space,
and historic structures. Those expenditures will be financed from
a new $30 document-recording fee, which is expected to generate
about $27 million a year to be split equally among the four uses.
In other developments, the legislature increased to $36 million
a proposal by the governor to issue $25 million in general obligation
bonds over the next two years to restore and develop housing. About
$12 million will be set aside in the first year to restore state
moderate rental housing, which is a long-delayed need.
The 2005 legislative session — and the work of Governor Rell,
State Treasurer Nappier, Secretary of OPM Robert Genuario, Senator
Williams, Lieutenant Governor Kevin Sullivan, and legislators who
offered bipartisan support — has established the foundation
for a renewed commitment to meeting the state's housing needs.
Diane Randall is the director of the Partnership for Strong Communities,
an organization to raise public awareness and advance solutions
to end chronic homelessness, create affordable housing, and build
healthy and economically vital communities. The partnership played
a lead role in advocating for the Next Steps Initiative and the
Housing Trust Fund. Ms. Randall currently serves on the Bank's Advisory
Council.
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