By Mark Pazniokas
An annual assessment of housing affordability in Connecticut finds market forces blunting the impact of the more than 7,000 affordable apartments developed with state aid during Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s 4½ years in office.
A desire by aging Baby Boomers to downsize contributes to a soft market for single-family homes and increased demand for rental apartments, according to HousingInCT 2015, a study published today by the Partnership for Strong Communities.
“Right now, the market is being driven by demographics – all these boomers wanting smaller, denser, more affordable, walkable neighborhoods,” said David Fink, the group’s policy director. “Their kids, the millenniala, have a lot of education debt and a lifestyle that doesn’t connect with a four-bedroom Colonial on a two-acre lot.”
Overall, despite steady progress in reducing chronic homelessness and developing rental housing, Connecticut remains one of the nation’s most expensive places to live, ranking 6th in median monthly housing costs.
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This both shows a need for senior housing and why the 8-30g law is flawed in that senior affordable housing only gives towns a fraction of a point for each one created.
David Fink who is quoted here spoke at a State hearing both Jim Marpe and I attended and was only interested in family housing and ignored our statements that our town needed to focus on seniors and their needs.
Builders build single family homes because there is market demand and people buy them.
Read this article thoroughly and think about it before you jump to conclusions
Michael,
I agree that the market says build single family homes and I’ll even go farther and say our town is based on it. But that does not negate the fact that there is a need for Senior and Senior Affordable housing in Westport and that 8-30g does not address it. Do you think either is not the case? Please explain why you would think that.
I was not referring to demographics. I was simply making the point that the vast majority of people prefer to live in detached dwellings in spite of how they are grouped or classified.
It should not be difficult, if the town truly wants senior housing, to begin some projects.
First, senior housing is actually good for the town. taxes collected would not come with 2 or 3 children attended the schools. each child costs the town about $20,000. If the town wanted to create senior housing (say over 55) with no children, it should be a win win for both the seniors and the town
Land is hard to get in Westport but there are some commercial properties not selling that could easily be turned into senior residents. Some are close to the train station which would make it easy for seniors.
We don’t need state involvement. We don’t need to have some greater approval. What we need is the desire to truly have senior residents, and the leadership in town and some work with P&Z to make it happen. It will only be a win win for the town.
And we don’t have to ‘break’ P&Z rules. Be glad to discuss this any time.