Regional Housing Strategy

Overview

CRCOG has embarked on a multi-year Regional Housing Strategy to provide tools to assist municipalities with implementation of their local Affordable Housing Plans, provide training tools and resources, and explore regional roles in creating housing.

The strategy will build upon housing goals and strategies contained in the CRCOG 2024 Plan of Conservation and Development and local Affordable Housing Plans prepared by CRCOG member municipalities. CRCOG is not seeking a new “plan” comprised of goals and strategies (though we recognize new strategies may emerge during this process). Rather, the Regional Housing Strategy will produce a series of products and tools that can be used by CRCOG and its member communities as they tackle housing challenges in order to tangibly increase housing options in the region.

Study Updates

  • Might a land bank or community housing trust work at the regional level in Connecticut? Learn more about how these two types of entities could help increase housing opportunities (see slides under “Project Documents”, below).
  • Did you miss our recent “Dive into the Data” public meeting on December 3? Watch the meeting video on the left (<—) and download project slides below (see Project Documents).
  • Check out recent staff presentations on:
  • We’ve assembled two ad hoc committees to help guide our Regional Housing Strategy:
    • An Advisory Committee (AC), which meets quarterly to provide overall project guidance. The AC includes local planners, chief elected officials, housing developers and housing providers, liaisons to those in need of housing, employers, affordable housing advocates, and others who bring an array of experiences to the table.
    • A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which meets monthly to provide guidance on many of the local tools developed throughout the project. The TAC is comprised of municipal planners.
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Project Details

The Regional Housing Strategy, which, among other tasks, will provide tools to assist municipalities with implementation of their local Affordable Housing Plans, provide training tools and resources, and explore regional roles in creating housing. CRCOG has retained the services of a development and planning firm to assist with the strategy over the next two years.

The following summarizes a number of the key tasks we expect to undertake. Please note this summary does not include every task included in the Scope of Services with the project consultant.

We’ll start our process by examining data to better understand factors currently impacting housing prices and production, and gauge future trends. We’ll identify housing opportunity/priority areas in the region, as identified in local Affordable Housing Plans and other local or regional plans. We’ll also look at recent innovations in housing – from new construction techniques, to housing financing, to new housing concepts.

CRCOG’s member municipalities have deployed an array of tools to support affordable housing, including zoning policies like inclusionary zoning and density bonuses. We’ll analyze the effectiveness of a number of tools and develop recommendations based on the findings.

We’ll also create a number of toolkits for local decision-makers. These will include:

  • Housing Communication Toolkit for use when discussing or planning for housing at the local level.
  • “Missing Middle” Toolkit, which will examine strategies to expand the creation of smaller multi-family projects, from duplexes to smaller apartment buildings.
  • “Expiring Unit” Toolkit, which will analyze the potential loss of existing affordable units as their required timeframe for affordability expires.
  • Cost of Services Discussion Toolkit, which will build upon studies that have already been done surrounding real and perceived fiscal impacts from new housing development. The tooklit will provide a how-to guide for municipalities that wish to conduct their own fiscal analysis.

CRCOG staff is also developing materials to help visualize density, highlighting projects within the region. We look to unveil a website the helps people explore neighborhoods of varying density.

We will also work with up to three member municipalities to study a specific site in their community that might be suitable for housing. We’ll look at potential development capacity and costs to develop the sites.

We’ll examine how other regions around the country are tackling housing challenges. We expect to explore overall best practices along with specific tools such as regional housing trusts and land banks. We’ll also examine how CRCOG can help its member municipalities with specific administrative and technical issues they face when planning for affordable housing in their communities. CRCOG will also host a number of trainings and forums, with specific topics to be determined.

By the time we reach this phase of the project, we’ll have a clearer understanding of specific roles CRCOG can take to expand housing options in the region. The Implementation Plan will inform us on how to best proceed in the housing realm, including resources necessary to build capacity at the regional level.

Project Documents

PROJECT ADVISORY COMMITTEE

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