Critics: Connecticut uses zoning to stay segregated

Critics say Connecticut state lawmakers and local leaders are failing to take opportunities to integrate one of the most segregated states in the country, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

Several local jurisdictions have gone out of their way to block affordable housing this year. While Gov. Ned Lamont has criticized wealthy towns for doing so, earlier this month he said he supported leaving zoning decisions up to towns instead of giving the state more power to push zoning reforms.

Connecticut is hardly alone: Zoning has been widely used across the country to exclude the kinds of housing more likely to be integrated. The Brookings Institution has deemed exclusionary zoning “opportunity hoarding” by the upper middle class.

The Connecticut House of Representatives’ progressive caucus announced support for taking on exclusionary zoning statewide, but the legislature as a whole has shelved several proposals that could add more affordable housing in the state. [Connecticut Mirror] — Dennis Lynch