The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, a new report released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), finds a national shortage of nearly seven million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income (ELI) renter households, those with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30% of their area median income. In Connecticut, there are 148,502 extremely low-income households but only 61,785 affordable rental homes available to them. The result is only 42 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 households with extremely low incomes.

Fairfield County's Center for Housing Opportunity and Urban Institute have released a new report titled "Housing Connecticut’s Future: Meeting the State's Affordable and Accessible Housing Needs." This report discusses how changing demographic trends necessitate the creation of additional affordable and accessible apartments for Connecticut's growing senior population.

Click here to read the report.

The advocacy group Desegregate CT has released a new tool to help Connecticut residents better understand and visualize local zoning in their areas.

Click here to view the Connecticut Zoning Atlas.

The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) is holding a public input period to receive data, views, and comments with respect to its Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program, its Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), and its current priorities and policy goals.

The public comment period is open from November 23, 2020 through December 23, 2020. Written comments may be submitted to Terry Nash Giovannucci by email at PublicComment@chfa.org, or by mail to CHFA, 999 West Street, Rocky Hill, CT 06067.

On November 19^th, 2020, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and Innovation for Justice (I4J) Program released the “Costs of COVID-19 Evictions” Report.

The report identifies and looks at five key areas that would incur public costs of homelessness following an eviction, including emergency shelters, inpatient medical care, emergency medical care, foster care, and juvenile delinquency. While not all encompassing, these five areas are noted to be “a starting point for measuring the costs of evictions.”

United Way of Connecticut has released its 2020 ALICE report, ALICE in Connecticut: A Financial Hardship Study. ALICE, or Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, provides a metric representing households above the Federal Poverty Level, but below the basic cost of living in Connecticut.

Financial challenges facing households in Connecticut are further exacerbated by the unprecedented public health crisis resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Some key findings from this report include: 

This summer, Partnership for Strong Communities (PSC) began a strategic planning process for the HOMEConnecticut Campaign, with input from existing and new partners.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, personal incomes have plummeted, and there is an increased need for affordable apartments. In this economic climate, it is imperative for the State of Connecticut to do everything in its power to preserve the state's existing stock of affordable and low-cost housing.

On December 3, 2019, the United States Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime announced a grant opportunity regarding housing assistance for victims of all forms of human trafficking. The grant supports the following types of housing assistance:

Kiley Gosselin, Executive Director of the Partnership for Strong Communities, appeared in the Hartford Courant on December 1, 2019. Her op-ed piece, "Connecticut Is a Leader in Ending Homelessness, and Gov. Lamont Can Help Finish the Job," makes the case that sustained state investment in housing resources is necessary to end homelessness and expand housing opportunity in Connecticut.