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01/17/2022 11:00 PMWith a June 2022 deadline for all municipalities to file an affordable housing plan with the state, North Haven formed the Affordable Housing Plan Advisory Committee (AHPAC) in October. The committee of 10 has met several times since then with several goals in mind.
“Our charge is to familiarize ourselves with housing needs within the municipality—what housing is needed? Housing to own? Rental stock? Studios? Singles? Two bedrooms?” said Dave Monz, chair of the AHPAC. “The goal is ensuring there is enough housing deemed affordable for people within our community—students coming back to North Haven, older people wanting to downsize, or people in lower playing jobs—and those from outside our community and create a plan to move toward that goal.”
Since the committee started meeting in October, Monz said that the members have been educating themselves and working with resources provided by the Southern Connecticut Regional Council of Governments (SCRCOG). David Fink, a housing consultant, presented a workshop on the regional composition of affording housing and the needs of the towns in the region, which “gave us a good regional snapshot,” according to Monz.
SCRCOG has also hired RKG Associates, a national economics planning and real estate consulting firm with expertise in social justice, as another resource. RKG Associates will help the committee in setting near-, mid-, and long-range strategies to implement an affordable housing plan in North Haven.
“We have some good regional data from SCRCOG and good data from RKG on a sub-regional basis,” said Monz. “Now we want feedback specific to North Haven to help guide the committee in terms of setting these goals and setting strategies.”
The AHPAC has created a community survey that is expected to be live on the town website www.town.north-haven.ct.us.
“We hope we get a good response,” said Monz. “We would like the broadest spectrum of people to participate as possible.”
Monz also encourages the public to attend its upcoming meeting meetings, scheduled for Monday, Jan. 31, Wednesday, Feb. 2, and Wednesday, March 9. RKG Associates will lead the Feb. 2 meeting and focus on goal-setting. All meetings are open to the public and held in the conference room of the library. The meetings are held in a hybrid style and people can attend in person, via Zoom, or by calling in.
“I encourage people within the town to participate in these outreach meetings we’re holding through February and March and take 5 or 10 minutes to complete the survey,” said Monz. “We’d really like to hear from North Haven residents about their views on affordable housing and what is needed in the town. A more diverse community is a better place for everyone to live and enriches all of our lives.”
After the meetings are held and survey results are reviewed, the AHPAC will create a plan summarizing the community’s affordable housing needs. The goal is to create the plan by April as it must go before the Board of Selectmen and then to a town meeting before it can be adopted by the June 1 deadline.
Monz said the plan will present the town’s needs as well as short-term, medium-term, and long-term strategies to reach those needs. The plan may identify potential sizes to prioritize for affordable housing and needs to consider such as proximity to transportation, childcare, shopping centers, and more. The plan could also involve recommendations for changes to zoning laws and incentives for developers.
“We’re establishing the strategies to develop appropriate affordable housing in North Haven and it will be up to others—Planning & Zoning [Commission], the Conservation Commission, the Board of Selectmen—to actually formulate the devices that those strategies can be achieved under,” said Monz, a lawyer who specializes in environmental law.
“To afford people inclusive and equitable housing is an important issue not only for the town, but for the state and the country,” added Monz. “Affordable housing is a really good thing to make sure you have a diverse community, economically, ethnically, and racially.”
For information on the survey, meetings, or information, visit town.north-haven.ct.us.