This past legislative session brought a suite of changes to Connecticut’s laws that benefit the development and rehabilitation of affordable housing throughout the State. Several of these changes, set out in Public Act No. 24-143, take effect on October 1, 2024. Below is a summary of some critical changes that benefit Connecticut’s affordable housing market.
- Municipalities are permitted to use revenues generated from a tax increment district to fund the renovation and rehabilitation of affordable housing projects not located within that district provided that the project satisfies certain affordability requirements and qualifies as a “set-aside development” per Connecticut General Statutes §8-30g and the project owner agrees to renew the development’s affordability restrictions.
- Municipalities are required to apply an alternative assessment methodology for qualifying real property used solely for housing for low or moderate-income persons or families, without need for a local ordinance permitting the same or for an agreement between the project owner and the municipality. The assessed value will now be determined by the property’s capitalized net rental income.
- Municipalities are authorized to enact local zoning laws that require only site plan approval for the conversion of nursing homes into multi-family housing, without need for a public hearing.
- The process by which the State’s surplus land may be sold or transferred was changed so that any proposal by the Department of Housing for the construction, rehabilitation or renovation of housing for persons and families of low and moderate income would have priority in that process.
Read the act here.
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