Affordable Housing: State Denies New Canaan’s Application for ‘Moratorium’

The town has failed in its latest bid to secure four years of relief from a widely discussed affordable housing law.

State officials in a May 21 letter to First Selectman Dionna Carlson said that Connecticut Department of Housing staff reviewed the town’s application for a moratorium “and has determined that the Town of New Canaan’s application does not meet the requirements for the issuance of a Certificate of Affordable Housing Project Completion as submitted.”

The letter from DOH Commissioner Seila Mosquera-Bruno said that the town fell just 2.5 housing unit equivalent or “HUE” points to be eligible.

The state attached a “memorandum detailing the methodology used to calculate the eligible HUE points” (that document is available here), Mosquera-Bruno said in her letter, obtained by NewCanaanite.com. 

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and the Town of New Canaan for continuing to address the affordable housing needs in your community,” she said.

Asked for the town’s response, the first selectman’s office issued a press release. In it, Carlson said she was “disappointed” and blamed the state for not communicating a recent change in the value that DOH assigns to certain types of housing units in its moratorium formula.

Under the state law known by its statute number, 8-30g, in towns where less than 10% of all housing stock qualifies as affordable (New Canaan is at 2.94%), developers who propose projects where a certain number of units are set aside to rent at affordable rates may appeal to the state after a local P&Z Commission denies their applications. New Canaan since its last moratorium lapsed in July 2021 has received three such applications, at Weed and Elm Streets (120 units), Main Street (20 units) and Hill Street (93 units). P&Z denied all of them. Those applications are now under appeal in state Superior Court. 

The state had already denied a prior application from New Canaan for a moratorium, in October 2022. The town applied for a new moratorium in December. The denial of that application comes amid an active lawsuit brought by the town (under the former first selectman) against the DOH. In its complaint, the town claims that the state “aggrieved” the municipality last year when it issued a “declaratory ruling” after denying the 2022 moratorium application. 

The town is re-submitting its application, Carlson said in the press release. 

The state’s denial was “due to a technical change in how affordable housing units are counted,” she said in the release.

“I am very disappointed that DOH did not communicate this change with us, even though they came back to us with requests for modifications to our application,” Carlson said in the release. “Because we were unaware of the point value change, our application came up three points short of earning a moratorium. We had communicated in our application to the DOH we had additional units that could be applied toward this moratorium, if necessary, but they chose not to give us credit for those units. Since receiving the DOH denial letter last week, I spoke with the Commissioner of the Department of Housing and her staff. We are now clear on the changed point system, and we submitted a revised application on Tuesday May 28th. I am encouraged that DOH expressed a willingness to work with us to expedite this new application … New Canaan has been a strong partner with the state in addressing the shortage of affordable housing. Our expansion of the Mill, Millport and Canaan Parish apartment complexes are clear examples of our commitment to add affordable housing in New Canaan.”