Three phases of affordable housing
A week in housing and a weekend of recommendations
This past week brought three examples of affordable-housing policies at different stages. In South Carolina, a population explosion is testing the state’s housing capacity and forcing policymakers and developers to work quickly on solutions. Housing construction in Connecticut is facing local resistance, with the state’s governor adding to the obstacles. Nearby in New York, a new development upstate is keeping a multibillion-dollar housing plan on track.
Growth in South Carolina outpaces housing
South Carolina’s housing crunch is worsening amid rapid population growth. The Charleston City Paper reported that Fort Mill, for instance, has grown nearly 80 percent since 2018, and its town council in June imposed a moratorium on new annexations and rezonings through the end of the year. Charleston’s mayor proposed an $800 million plan to deliver 3,500 affordable units to the city by 2031. A study published in 2023 revealed that the state has significantly underbuilt since the 2008 recession, creating a mounting “supply debt.” Legislators are now exploring concurrency policies to align housing growth with infrastructure.
In Connecticut, local resistance meets legislative efforts
Affordable-housing projects faced local pushback in Fairfield County this week. On Tuesday, Fairfield’s Planning and Zoning Commission rejected a 100-unit development proposed under the state’s 8-30g statute, also known as the Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure, over concerns about fire access and traffic. Also in Fairfield County, a 75-unit development in Bethel is drawing opposition over its scale, design, and environmental impact, despite 8-30g’s limitations on local denial of affordable housing.
This year’s YIMBYtown conference will be held in New Haven in September, and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont will not be in attendance. In June Gov. Lamont vetoed a sweeping housing bill, H.B. 5002, which aimed to establish statewide affordable-housing targets and ease zoning rules. Originally a supporter of the bill, Lamont’s veto came after he heard concerns about its intrusion into local zoning.
Major affordable-housing expansion in New York
Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a milestone affordable-housing development in Saratoga Springs on Thursday with the Reserve at Saratoga Springs, a $78 million project by housing developer NRP Group. The development includes 202 income-restricted apartments a mile from downtown, targeting households earning up to 60 percent of the area median income. The complex will offer 10 units of supportive housing and community-focused amenities, including fitness centers and playgrounds. The project was financed through a mix of state tax credits, equity, energy grants, and local incentives, and it furthers Gov. Hochul’s $25 billion five-year housing plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide.
Weekend letter of recommendation
I’m told that college football starts this weekend, but I’m no expert.1 Who’s your team? If you don’t have one, find one and report back. Maybe start a fantasy league in the comments. I’m attending a Michigan-Purdue game in November, so Go Blue!
I’m reading “When the Clock Broke” by John Ganz, which is fantastic. I know that I’m late to the party — it was a Barack Obama favorite last summer. I don’t know if you’d like it more or less if you were alive in the ‘90s, but I’m finding it to be a pretty fascinating explanation of how we got here.
On Tuesday I joined Substack, Emily Sundberg of the Feed Me newsletter, and Bloomberg’s Joe Weisenthal for an outdoor screening of “The Social Network” at Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. That movie is as good as ever, so if you haven’t seen it I definitely suggest checking it out. If you have, it’s worth a rewatch. And if you don’t have an interest in that film, I can wholeheartedly recommend an outdoor viewing of anything. It was pretty spectacular.
What are your Labor Day plans? Other than moving, I don’t have any. I welcome any and all suggestions for things to do during my first (long) weekend living in D.C.
This is not a fact, but it is my memory that my college won approximately one game a year in the four years that I attended the school.
Superlike this tweet by Matt, this needs to be said more often and without fear. And the tactics have to be way different than the very well calibrated civil disobedience of the Civil Rights Movement.
https://x.com/mattyglesias/status/1961386863362474099
"One of my biggest skunk at the party takes is that 'activism' is systematically overrated in left of center circles as a way to make progress on issues — very few topics actually have the specific structure of the civil rights movement battling Jim Crow."
The border patrol did a raid on firefighters fighting a wilderness fire in the Olympics in Washington State. They said there were undocumented workers there so they stopped the firefighters to check all of their papers and arrest a couple.
That people is the length maga will go to. If the world is burning they will want to do an immigration check on the rescuers first.