Governor Vetoes Housing Bill

Governor Lamont, June 23. CT-N

Governor Ned Lamont announced this morning his veto of H.B. 5002, the controversial affordable housing bill labeled “Towns Take the Lead.”

In an official notice issued later in the day, Mr. Lamont said the bill “in its current form … imposes requirements that do not reflect the complexity or diversity of Connecticut’s towns and cities.”

This morning the governor said the veto decision came to him reluctantly, and “doesn’t mean dead stop. The veto means to me we can do a lot better.”

“The bill makes a really good start at a very important problem confronting our state,” said Mr. Lamont. “We pay a high price” for a housing shortage, he said, adding that much progress has been made in the last five years, but the state still has a supply problem.

Mr. Lamont said he hopes to see “a better bill” on his desk after a special session of the legislature, likely to be held in September. He said town leaders will “be at the table with us over the next 90 days” to work on it.

“For housing to continue growing, it has to be led by our towns, by our first selectmen and mayors,” said the governor. I don’t think it works when it’s us against them.”

Fair share, specific plans

Mr. Lamont said he, too, had long worried about the section called “fair share,” where “outside consultants came in and told towns, this is the amount of housing you have to have.”

But the governor said five-year plans already submitted by towns are too general. “We want them to be very specific” about what type of housing they want, starting with affordable housing, preferably in downtown areas.

He said the state will be “right there with you” when it comes to infrastructure like sewerage, water and transportation.

At the same time, Mr. Lamont said if towns “refuse to take the lead, then maybe the fair share group will come up with numbers to help inspire them.” And if towns “don’t give us a number, then we’ll step in.”

He added later that smaller towns “with no place to build, no transit-oriented district,” must be “treated in a different category.”

The governor admitted that he should have focused on H.B. 5002 sooner, and that it “crossed the line for a lot of folks.” But he continued to insist that the bill was merely a “planning document” and the fair share allocations only “suggested numbers.”

He acknowledged that the allocations in the bill were “close” to a dictate, but later said claims by opponents that the numbers amounted to a dictate were “misinformation.”

Priorities

Mr. Lamont said his priorities for a revised bill involve dealing with objections to fair share, parking, and development on commercial properties.

“Fair share is make or break,” said the governor. “If you’re going to dictate, or suggest, or imply a certain number of units, I don’t think that’s going to work for me.”

He said he believes compromise can be reached on parking regulations. He said as-of-right residential development on commercial properties “makes a certain amount of sense. I would be willing to compromise on that.”

Asked about giving discretionary grant preference to cooperating towns, Mr. Lamont said “that makes sense to me.”

“We’re running out of options,” said the governor. “They don’t like mandates, they don’t like incentives, what do I do? Say pretty please?”