DEC2025-PARTONE_1-14.qxp_NCN new template 12/1/25 8:53 PM Page 14
Ellington State Representative Round-up
Breaking down the housing bill HARTFORD — In November, the legisJaime Foster lature was called into special session to address several pressing issues, including the creation of an emergency reserve to brace for federal funding cuts and to take meaningful steps to confront Connecticut’s worsening housing crisis. My husband and I are in our 30s, raising children, and like many families, we feel the dramatic shift in the economic landscape. When my grandparents bought their home in the 1960s, the median home price was about $20,000. When my parents were buying their first home, that number was around $130,000. Today, the median home price in America is a staggering $420,000. In Connecticut, it’s even higher. This is a lived reality for families across Connecticut. It’s one of the few issues people across the aisle agree on: We don’t have enough housing people can afford. This bill focuses on partnerships. It
empowers towns to plan for responsible, data-driven growth using insights from state, local and regional partners. Municipal leaders, regional councils, colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and the governor crafted a collaborative and practical framework through local Housing Growth Plans, which: • Encourages redevelopment of underused properties — like aging strip malls and vacant commercial spaces — and supports transit-oriented development to connect residents to jobs, schools and public transportation. • Aligns with a town’s existing Plan of Conservation and Development and other local planning documents. • Provides real infrastructure funding. It creates a Housing Growth Program that helps towns fund infrastructure improvements tied to their plans. For communities like ours, that means extending city water to neighborhoods dealing with contaminated wells — including EDBs, TCPs, nitrates, chloroforms and road salts. • Directs OPM to complete a
Rep. Foster speaking with Rep. Napoli during the Nov. 12 Special Session. Photo courtesy of Rep. Foster’s Office
statewide wastewater study, reducing the burden on local DPWs and volunteer commissions that currently patch together expensive, piecemeal assessments. • Supports school construction by increasing school construction reimbursement by 5%, benefiting projects in East Windsor, Vernon and potentially a future high school in Ellington. • Expands water-quality loan access with financing for towns participating in Housing Growth Plans — essential given the limited funding options for
drinking-water improvements today. All these programs prioritize towns that proactively plan for housing, infrastructure and future growth — whether through a Housing Growth Plan, a transit-oriented development zone or a CMDA partnership. There are several myths circulating, so let me address them clearly: • It does not create new unfunded mandates.
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14 North Central December2025
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