Developers created only 65 affordable housing units in Westport in past 30 years

A battle to keep a developer from building a mix of multifamily and single-family housing in Westport is representative of a larger effort on behalf of wealthy towns in Connecticut “to block affordable housing and, by extension, the people who need it,” according to a recent investigative report released by the Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica. Dozens of towns in Connecticut have kept private developers from building duplexes and apartments over the past 20 years, “often through exclusionary zoning requirements,” according to the report. In Westport, private developers have created just 65 affordable housing units within the past 30 years. In an interview, Stamford native and former Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said the statistics show that “the vestiges of our racial past are far from over.” [CTMirror]