Newtown’s Narrowing Housing Options

While other boards and commissions have been focusing on the sudden possibility of a residential development at Fairfield Hills, Newtown’s Planning and Zoning Commission also has been considering the topic of housing, except in much broader terms. The commission has received a draft report by planning consultants growing out of a $50,000 study of Newtown’s housing stock and the need for affordable alternatives for residents of modest means. (See story at the bottom of this page.) The State of Connecticut paid for the study, officially known as the Incentive Housing Zone Study. The state has established a goal of having ten percent of any town or city’s housing stock be affordable, or “workforce housing.”

Newtown, according to the state, falls short of that ten percent goal and needs to consider strategies to increase housing options to accommodate people of various income levels. The lack of affordable housing options has already had an impact on the character of the town. In 1990, roughly 30 percent of the local population was between 20 and 39 years old. By 2008, that percentage stood at 17, and today is probably just half of what it was 20 years ago. Normally, this would point toward a dramatic aging of a town’s demographics, but one other result of narrow — and expensive — housing options is the loss of older residents who can no longer afford large highly-taxed properties and cannot find smaller, suitably priced condominiums or apartments in town. Think, for a moment, what it means for a town, economically, culturally, even spiritually, to lose both its young adults and elders.

Some people view incentive housing zones as a kind of social engineering. One P&Z member pronounced it “socialistic,” adding preemptively, “I don’t believe in socialism.” But when, as the report points out, Newtown is only affordable to those making 120 percent of the area median family income, or $125,000 annually, and the average police officer in town makes $58,000, something is out of whack. While we may not need Karl Marx to address the problem, we certainly could use some common sense as we regulate the development of the town to meet our future needs.

We encourage the Planning and Zoning Commission to continue its examination of incentive housing zones and any other strategy that might encourage the development of housing stock to help stem the exodus of our younger and older citizens. Whether those housing options evolve at Fairfield Hills or in other areas of town equipped with supporting infrastructure, like Hawleyville or Main Street South, should be decided by open and frank discussions by the appropriate boards and commissions, involving public participation each step of the way. The prospect of another 20 years like the last 20 years is unacceptable. The discussion needs to start now. Nothing less than the much-revered character of Newtown may be at stake.