Working with a July 24, 2022, deadline to file an affordable housing plan with the state, the town has formed the Affordable Housing Plan Advisory Committee that’s also working under a longer-term state-set goal of creating 10 percent affordable housing.

First Selectwoman Peggy Lyons said that the Board of Selectman is actively working to meet the requirement of an affordable housing plan, but achieving the long-term goal of 10 percent affordable will prove difficult.

Currently, the town has slightly more than 8,000 units of housing, and, according to state data, has less than two percent affordable housing. What that means on the ground is that even if no other residential units were constructed, 600 to 700 units of affordable housing would have to be built to approach the 10 percent threshold. That, to many, seems to be an unrealistic goal for Madison.

“The committee will do its job as far as what the state is requiring. Overall, the committee is looking and the town is looking at a real plan to focus on build for the future,” said Lyons. “It is challenging, but the overall goal is to approve affordable housing in Madison. We are really looking at what the community needs and desires are. The state puts a metric on that…Our goal is to address what our needs are and clearly show progress.”

Specifically, Connecticut General Statute 8-30g states that unless 10 percent of a town’s housing stock is government-assisted or deed-restricted to remain affordable, a developer who is willing to build housing with a sufficient degree of guaranteed affordability can challenge the town’s failure to approve the proposal, bypassing most of the standard approval process. According to the parameters of the law, at least three of every 10 units in any proposed development must be priced so that a renter earning less than 80 percent or 60 percent of the area median income will not pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent or mortgage.

Any developer conforming to this criteria cannot be denied an approval except for public safety or public health reasons, ensuring most of these proposals are granted approval.

There are provisions within the statute that allow for some wiggle room. A municipality can qualify for a four-year moratorium from 8-30g by encouraging the development of a much smaller number of eligible housing units. If a town continues to promote additional affordable housing development during the moratorium, it is also possible to obtain additional moratoriums.

Regardless of these appeals and moratoriums, the math can be difficult to reconcile for a town like Madison, which has limited available opportunities to build affordable units, making town-planned increases to affordable housing stock more challenging. If the town doesn’t choose its path forward rapidly enough, however, that increases the chance the town will lose a greater measure of control as to where and what kind of construction occurs if a developer uses 8-30g to bypass some of the approval process.

“Look at it overall—we are two percent according to the census numbers, and it is going to be very difficult to try to hit 10 percent,” said Lyons. “And it’s not just the available land, it’s the lack of infrastructure. I think that we need to be realistic at what we can accomplish.

Selectman Bruce Wilson said this statute and its provisions puts Madison and towns like it in an unachievable position.

“I think where we see a bit of disconnect is the idea is that the town can drive private development. The requirement from the state to have this housing is not just on the town, but on private developers,” Wilson said. “So, we can plan all we want, but unless the town is willing to build, with taxpayer money, affordable housing, then the private sector will have to step in and fulfill its role as developer. That won’t happen unless the economics of the project makes sense, and there’s nothing that we can do to change the economics of land value and the housing market in general.”

Lyons echoed that sentiment and said the number of units that would be required to comply with the 10 percent mandate is simply not physically possible, but emphasized the goal for Madison is to provide as much affordable housing as possible.

“We have to be conscious of what the state requirements are and long-term goal the state has laid out. But we really want to make sure we get what our community needs,” Lyons said. “We should look at ourselves as partners with developers. We are trying to achieve something here and improve the affordable housing situation in Madison. We really need to be in more of a partnership mode. Let’s have a vision of what we want in our community, and that’s a conversation the town has never had.”

According to town figures, if Madison attempted to comply solely via developments with a 70 percent market rate/30 percent affordable split, the town would have to approve thousands upon thousands of non-affordable housing units in an attempt to increase the affordable units, as dictated by the state mandates.

If the town were to attempt to solely focus on just building affordable units, town leaders say there simply isn’t enough space left in the town to accommodate such a large-scale projects. The officials also believe it’s unlikely to find the finances to purchase, approve, and construct the multiple proposals that would be needed if it were to pursue projects that were solely dedicated to affordable units.

Wilson and Lyons both said that most of the feasible areas to begin a discussion on construction of affordable units are in the rural areas of North Madison, but siting projects there come with their set of difficulties, such as a lack of nearby employment or bus lines.

“A small town like Madison simply doesn’t have the resources,” said Wilson.

Lyons said there are a number of issues that would need to be addressed with residents if that plan of action was pursued.

“Once again, it’s hard to figure out what we want to offer the community. There are lots of ways, if we create a 10-year plan, for opportunities,” Lyons said. “It’s not easy for sure. Why haven’t we talked about transportation to North Madison? Why don’t we have a bus line of Route 79? It’s not just the process, there are whole list of different things needed to accomplish this. That’s why we need discussions.”

Lyons also emphasized the need to residents to understand and the issue and provide feedback on what they want to see moving forward.

“This is very going to be a public process and public participation is welcome. The committee is holding public hearings and will continue to do that. I encourage the public to participate in the discussion of the Plan for Conservation and Development process, which will be guided by [the] Planning & Zoning” Commission, Lyons said. “The next plan really needs to have more specific action items in it, and that the public needs to participate in that. I think the people of Madison get it, they understand it is important to create housing choices and that we all benefit from diversity. We need to be forward thinking on this issue. We need to come up with community objectives and how to achieve them.”

The Ad Hoc Affordable Housing Plan Committee is set to meet next on Friday, Dec. 31 at 8:30 a.m. Meeting times and virtual attendance details are available at www.madisonct.org.