Submitted by Janet Stone McGuigan, Greenwich Selectperson
In advance of Monday’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM) meeting, I’d like to share a few thoughts regarding affordable housing in Greenwich.
On the agenda is an amendment to a proposed ordinance directing an additional fee to Greenwich’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund (GAHTF).
Critics miss the larger point, which is that Greenwich needs to do a better job supporting affordable housing. This topic is worth a serious community conversation.
The 2019 Plan of Conservation and Development highlights the need for more affordable and moderate-income housing units in Town.
When Greenwich tells Hartford that zoning should remain local, we cannot stop the conversation there. We need to pursue actionable measures to make progress on housing.
In the initial proposal for the distribution of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, $1.8 million would have gone to the Town’s recently established GAHTF, but in the final decision that amount was reduced to $1.1 million.
The Republican-controlled BET then conditioned $450 thousand of the $1.1 million on matching funds from private contributions, even though ARPA funding did not come from the Town’s tax revenues, and one of ARPA’s specified purposes was to support affordable housing.
The GAHTF is a constructive path forward in the effort to create more affordable housing; it is our only tool in negotiating with developers to reduce the size of affordable housing projects and allow for more moderate-income housing for our local workforce.
As we listen to the RTM debate on Monday night, please consider how we might best meet our community’s housing needs. Thank you to all who are working to elevate this important conversation!
Janet Stone McGuigan, Greenwich Selectperson