July 6, 2010 - One of the principal tools for creating affordable housing in Connecticut, Sect. 8-30g of the general statutes (aka “the Affordable Housing Appeals Procedure”) turned 20 July 1 and has quite a range of accomplishments to show for itself.

Over two decades, it has produced approximately 5,000 affordable units and nearly 7,000 modest, market-rate units in the state’s cities and towns. Under the statute, which has been changed several times, developers must produce mixed-income housing: a maximum of 70% of the units in a development can be market-rate while a minimum of 30% must be affordable, half of those for residents earning 60% of the state or area median income (whichever is less) and the other half for residents earning 80% of the state or area median.

In some cases, developers have exceeded the minimum affordable set-aside. The law is designed to make affordable housing creation easier in municipalities that have created little of it. If less than 10% of a town’s housing stock is affordable, a developer may override local zoning and build mixed-income housing according to the set-aside and affordability requirements unless the municipality can show that doing so will endanger public health or safety.