For the past six years, I have served as a planning and zoning commissioner in my home, Norwalk. I have seen firsthand how even a pro-growth community like mine is struggling to address our housing shortage, particularly for working and low-income families, while increasingly struggling to face the converging climate crisis. We have a great commission, a great planning department, and great elected leadership at all levels, but we still can’t do it alone. We need the state to step up.
Every year, Connecticut’s shortage of affordable homes worsens, leaving more residents stuck in older unsafe homes, overpaying for the slim inventory of rental or for-sale homes, or just not finding one and leaving. The shortage is taking a significant toll on our economy, which has 73,000 unfilled jobs according to the Connecticut Business and Industry Association.
At the same time, the climate crisis demands we rethink how and where we build due to increasingly dangerous storms, floods, and droughts. As a volunteer commissioner, trying to address all of these issues is overwhelming.
However, I am excited to be joining DesegregateCT as the new Program Director at a time when Connecticut has a viable path forward to help commissioners like me: Work Live Ride (HB 6831) which incentivizes planning for transit-oriented communities (TOCs). By building homes and jobs near transit hubs, we can create diverse, dynamic, walkable neighborhoods that expand affordability, support local businesses, and reduce pollution.
Work Live Ride is a practical, next-step solution in building the state’s capacity for working with municipalities, addressing their core needs through zoning reforms at, for, and by the local level. Whether your town or city has a bus or train station, or is even adjacent to a community that does, your planning commission has the opportunity to take advantage of this proposal.
Living in Norwalk has shown me one example of what Connecticut’s future could look like. While not perfect, with four train stations and robust local bus service, our community welcomes countless visitors who come to explore vibrant neighborhoods like SoNo and Wall Street. Now, we are more intentionally building around transit.
When we plan for people over cars, we attract more visitors, but also more people and businesses who want to make Norwalk home. Additionally, this enables our residents to travel by rail or bus without relying on their cars leading to reduced carbon emissions, improved air quality, and safer streets.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s investments in rail and bus service are a critical step toward a more connected and sustainable Connecticut, but the missing piece remains what is allowed to be built near these stations.
Transit-served areas make up only 13% of the state’s land yet are home to a significant share of its households (50%) and jobs (69%). We are barely scratching the surface of this opportunity. Norwalk remains the exception, not the rule. Of the 40 municipalities that have rail or rapid bus stations, less than 20% have zoned for more jobs and homes near their stations. It’s even lower for towns with regular bus service.
Sticking with the status quo means increasing home costs, commute times, inequity, emissions, and, ultimately, taxes. We can choose to invest in TOCs that create housing choice, job opportunities, and economic innovation, or we can fall further behind other states like Massachusetts and New York as they take action.
The people we need to stay in or move to Connecticut -–young professionals, families, and retirees alike–- want connected communities with homes that fit their needs. Our state is full of places where they could thrive, but we need new policies to help those community leaders trying to change. Work Live Ride is one of those solutions. With it, we can create a diverse range of TOCs that reflect the unique character of our communities, fostering growth that supports residents of all income levels now and for future generations.
Breaking free from the car-centric sprawl that has shaped Connecticut for nearly a century will not happen overnight and it will not be solved with a single bill. But we have to start somewhere.
The economic and racial segregation that has held our state back was not inevitable, it was a choice. Now, we have the chance to make a different choice: ignore what our neighbors, our economy, and our climate need or build a more affordable, connected, and sustainable future by facing our challenges head-on.
Nicholas Kantor is the Program Director of DesegregateCT, a member of the Norwalk Planning and Zoning Commission, and a resident of Norwalk.