What are the best ways to tackle Westbrook’s mandate to increase affordable housing? After tasking a committee to come up with proposals and conducting a survey, the Planning Commission is hosting a community meeting via Zoom on Monday, Feb. 7 to get feedback on the draft of the 2022-’27 Affordable Housing Plan for Westbrook. The feedback will be used to help refine the draft before it is finalized.

Every municipality in Connecticut is required to adopt an affordable housing plan by June of this year. According to Westbrook Town Planner Peter Gillespie, more than a year ago Westbrook put together a subcommittee to study affordable housing in town which in Dec. 2021 turned over its report to the Planning Commission. The consulting firm Planimetics also helped with the study.

Now, the plan is being presented to the public so that residents can see what’s in the plan and provide feedback. The plan details what the town’s current housing needs are, what future needs are likely to be, and ways the town can improve the amount of affordable housing offered in town.

A flyer for the meeting noted “It is anticipated that the housing plan will be used by local boards, agencies, and staff for future planning purposes.” The draft plan is available on the town website at www.westbrookct.us (search “affordable housing”).

Gillespie said that people in Westbrook were extremely interested in the topic as evidenced by an online survey of about people’s perception of housing needs in Westbrook that garnered serious interest when it was launched in the summer of 2021.

“We encourage people to tune in to the Zoom. We’d love to have a big number of people on it. We encourage people to review the plan before the meeting and to provide some thoughtful feedback,” said Gillespie.

The plan contains background data, what housing is currently allowed, and what isn’t allowed by zoning. Lastly, the plan has several strategies listed for increasing affordable housing ranked from highest priority to lowest priority. Some of the suggested fixes include items such zoning tweaks, establishing a housing trust fund, and supporting the housing authority.

The goal of the plan is to “seek to provide for a variety of housing choices in Westbrook for people and families of all ages and characteristics.”

Currently, Westbrook has 204 units—about 5.1 percent of Westbrook’s 2020 housing stock—that meet the state’s criteria for affordability. According to the draft plan, a housing unit is considered “affordable housing” when it costs less than 30 percent of the income for people and families earning 80 percent or less of the area median income. For Westbrook in 2021, an annual income of $82,080 is considered the average median income for a two-person household; a two-person household earning $65,664 annually would be eligible for affordable housing.

Once the information session is held, Gillespie said the commission will digest any feedback and make any needed changes to the draft.

“Then we’ll have another formal public hearing and process to have it officially adopted,” said Gillespie.