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Connecticut Democrats passed HB-5002 purportedly to help resolve a “housing crisis,” “reduce homelessness” and “increase use of public transit.” To solve these problems HB-5002 overrides town zoning laws in a variety of ways you can read about here.
As we mentioned previously, the Connecticut homeless population, by the State’s own estimate is around 3,410 in 2024 (out of 3.6 million) down from a maximum of 3,976 in 2016. According to this same report, Connecticut has 8,565 Permanent Supportive Housing beds and an additional Rapid Re-Housing for 1,304. So there are plenty of existing resources.
Second, the Census Bureau ACS survey shows that about as many people walked to work (2.5%) as used public transit (including taxicabs) in Connecticut. 74% commute by car, truck or van, and 89% of those who drive, drove alone to work. Federal data shows that about 44,000 people use CT Transit system daily, and this is down 28% from 2014. That’s 1.2% of the population, so presumably the other 1.3% use Metro North.
Basically, in Connecticut, public transit is nonexistent.
Yet in classic Democrat fasion, Connecticut spent $570 million to build CT FastTrak. If you’re not familiar with CT FastTrak, you’re not alone. CT FastTrak is a “bus rapid transit system” around Hartford which is comprised of 9.3 miles of roadway dedicated to FastTrak busses. CT FastTrak provides round trip rides to around 1,000 people a day. Connecticut spent this $570 million despite studies which show that traffic is not a major cause of bus average speed. The major cause of bus slowness is the number of stops, and dedicated roads don’t change this.
Lastly we have Connecticut’s so called Housing Crisis. We also covered this before, but Connecticut Median Listing Price remains lower than surrounding states, and while housing affordability is lower than it has been, this is due to nationally high mortgage rates thanks to the rampant inflation of the Biden era. Yet Connecticut Rents are still lower than surrounding states, and Connecticut is nowhere to be found on the list of hot rental markets.
Revised data shows that the only net new residents in Connecticut are “International migrants.” But even with these “international” arrivals, Connecticut population has increased by about 60,000 since 2020, while over the same period, Connecticut issued permits to construct a total of 30,000 housing units, which at the Connecticut average of 2.47 people per household is enough housing for 74,000 people. So there seems to be plenty of available housing.
As we also pointed out mandated high density housing, especially low income housing, is ineffective at generating substantial numbers of units; it wastes time and money in legal fights and lobbying over these mandates; and, it reduces the value of nearby homes.
So who does CT-HB 5002 help? Well, consider that rental assistance under CT Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher programs and Rental Assistance Programs require proof of US Citizenship, verified by the Connecticut Department of Housing, and no such requirement exists for units built under 8-30g nor HB-5002. So HB-5002 seems to target two constituencies: builders and indigent “international migrants.”
