Resource Library: Affordable Housing

Homelessness  |  Affordable Housing  |  Community Development

Definitions and Eligibility Information  

•  Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Act 
  The Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Act is also known as 8-30g and can be found in Chapter 126a of the CGS.  Under this Act, towns that do not have at least 10% of their housing designated as affordable are much more limited in their ability to reject an affordable housing development proposal.  DECD maintains a list of Connecticut towns and the amount of housing that they have registered as affordable.
  
  Affordable Housing Appeals Act Explainer
  This explainer by the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut summarizes the appeals procedure, explains major changes to the Act made by Public Act 00-206, addresses common myths, and lists mandatory affordability requirements as well as exempt and non-exempt municipalities in Connecticut.
  
  CHAPTER 126a - Afordable Housing Land Use Appeals
  The Connecticut General Assembly's web site publishes the statute in full.
  
  
•  Area Median Income
  
  Each year, HUD releases Median Income Limits that federal, state and local governments use to help determine who is eligible to receive housing assistance for programs that they fund or govern.  Median Income Limits differ depending upon geography and the amounts are updated annually in order to account for adjustments to income in those areas. 
  
  CHFA uses HUD’s Median Income Limits to create schedules of maximum affordable gross rent and income limits allowed under programs they administer, which can be viewed at the bottom of this page:
  http://www.chfa.org/Multifamily/MFApplications.asp.
  
  
•  HUD Fair Market Rents
  
  Each year, HUD releases updated Fair Market Rents that are used to determine how much the rent subsidy will be for programs like HUD’s Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Program or the Connecticut Rental Assistance Program.  
  
  
•  State of Connecticut Definition of Affordable Housing
  Search CGS for 8-39a
  The term affordable housing is defined in Section 8-39a of the Connecticut General Statutes (Chapter 128) as "housing for which persons and families pay thirty per cent or less of their annual income, where such income is less than or equal to the area median income for the municipality in which such housing is located, as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development."