For Towns

The Resources for Towns Page may be helpful to Chief Elected Officials, Municipality Leaders, Zoning Officials, and Planners who are involved with affordable and workforce housing within their Town, as they navigate through the development process with real estate developers.

Included on this page are support documents, housing studies, informative links, and contacts which may be helpful in your development process.

More Information:  Documents  |  Incentive Housing Zone Program  |  Website Links  |  Add Your Project

Documents

SECHA has complied a collection of various documents consisting of affordable housing reports, impact studies, current updates and statistics, housing profiles, and more to assist Towns and Developers in their pursuit of affordable and workforce housing development or the creation thereof.

More Information: Documents

Incentive Housing Program

Only municipalities can decide whether housing is created in their towns and the HOMEConnecticut program, officially known as the Connecticut Housing Program for Economic Growth, was designed to complement that reality. It is a voluntary, incentive-based land use program created by the General Assembly in 2007 and begun in 2008. The program, administered by the state’s Office and Policy Management (OPM), provides towns with incentives if they choose to create an Incentive Housing Zone in a smart growth location in their community.

An Incentive Housing Zone (IHZ) is an area which has a zoning overlay that allows developers to increase housing density in exchange for creating mixed-income housing. The program provides municipalities with complete control over the location, amount, type and design of the homes created, while also offering a tool that allows all residents of a town to have input into housing decisions: where it should be built, what it should look like, or whether it should be created at all.

Towns that choose to create more housing using the HOMEConnecticut program can create an Incentive Housing Zone (IHZ) with only two requirements:

That 20% of the units in the zone be affordable for those at 80% of the area median income, and that the housing meets density requirements of 6 single-family, 10 townhomes or duplexes, or 20 multifamily units per acre. (Rural towns and developments in which all of the units are affordable may request a density waiver from OPM.)

To assist in these efforts, towns can qualify for no-strings-attached planning grants. When an IHZ is created, towns also qualify for incentives of up to $2,000 for each unit allowed to be built in an IHZ, and up to $2,000 per every multifamily unit building permit issued or up to $5,000 for every single-family building permit issued within the IHZ. Towns may use the incentive money for any purpose.

More Information: Incentive Housing Zone Program

Website Links

The following links include housing advocacy organizations, community development finance institutions, affordable housing developers, social service organizations, and more.

More Information: Website Links

Add Your Project

SECHA would like to add your affordable and workforce housing development project to our website, as we are creating an inventory of affordable housing within southeastern Connecitcut. Please fill out the form below to the best of your ability, and we will review the information for content. A housing specialist will contact you for verification of information prior to posting your project.

More Information: Add Your Project