CGS § 8-30g
The Affordable
Housing Land Use
Appeals Procedure

This Issue Brief has been updated by Issue Brief 2017-R-0158 (August 17, 2017)

What is the affordable housing land use appeals procedure and what is its purpose?
The procedure requires municipal planning and zoning agencies (hereinafter “municipalities”) to defend their decisions
to reject affordable housing development applications or approve them with costly conditions. In traditional land use
appeals, the developer must convince the court that the municipality acted illegally, arbitrarily, or abused its discretion.
The procedure instead places the burden of proof on municipalities.
Assisted Housing
What types of developments trigger the law’s protection?
The proposed development must be an “affordable housing development,” which
the law defines to include "set-aside developments” and “assisted housing.”
Under what circumstances are municipalities subject to the law?
With one exception, developers can use the appeals procedure to contest amunicipality’s decision on an affordable housing development application
submitted to a municipality if (1) fewer than 10% of the municipality’s housing
units are affordable, based on certain statutory criteria and (2) the municipality
has not qualified for a moratorium. Under the exception, a moratorium does not
apply to appeals related to applications for certain small or low-income “assistedhousing” developments.
What types of dwelling units count toward the 10%?
Affordable housing is defined to include (1) “assisted housing,” (2) housing
currently financed by Connecticut Housing Finance Authority mortgages, (3)housing subject to deeds and conditions restricting its sale or rental to low- andmoderate-income people, or (4) mobile homes or accessory apartments subject
to similar deed restrictions.

August 29, 2017

Housing that receives government
assistance to construct orrehabilitate low- and moderateincome housing, or housing
occupied by individuals receiving
rental assistance.

Set-aside Development
A development in which, for atleast 40 years after initial
occupancy, at least 30% of theunits are deed restricted.
Specifically, at least:(1) 15% of the units must be
deed restricted to households
earning 60% or less of the area
median income (AMI) or state
median income (SMI),
whichever is less, and(2) 15% of the units must be
deed restricted to households
earning 80% or less of the AMIor SMI, whichever is less.

2017-R-0013

When is a municipality eligible for a moratorium?
A municipality is eligible for a four-year
moratorium on appeals taken under theprocedure each time it shows it has added
affordable housing units, measured in HUE(housing unit equivalent) points, equaling thegreater of 2% of the housing stock, as of the lastcensus, or 75 HUE points. HUE points arecalculated as shown in the adjacent table.

HUE Value(per unit)

Unit Type
Owned or rented market-rate unit in a “set-aside development”
Owned or rented elderly unit restricted to households earning
no more than 80% of the median income
Owned family unit restricted to
80% of median income
households earning no more than:
60% of median income
40% of median income
Rented family unit restricted to
80% of median income
households earning no more than:
60% of median income
40% of median income

0.25
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
1.50
2.00
2.50

How can municipalities defend an appeal brought under the procedure?
Municipalities cannot defend an appeal on the grounds that the application does not comply with land use
regulations. Instead, to defend an appeal, a municipality must show either:(1) the decision was necessary to protect substantial public interests in health, safety, or other matters themunicipal commission may legally consider, and that these interests clearly outweigh the need for affordable
housing and cannot be protected by making reasonable changes to the proposed development or(2) the development is (a) receiving no government funds and (b) located in an industrial zone that does not
permit residential uses.
Why did the legislature enact the law?
The state faced an affordable housing crisis in the late 1980s, which the Blue Ribbon Commission on Housing
examined. In 1989, the commission submitted its final report to the governor and the legislature. The report
included 25 recommendations, one of which concerned an affordable housing appeals procedure. The
commission recommended that the state “establish a procedure whereby decisions of local land use
commissions rejecting an application which would lead to the development of affordable housing [could] (1) beappealed in an expeditious manner, and (2) be judged as to whether the local commission properly considered
the need for affordable housing in the community.” This recommendation led the legislature to pass P.A. 89-311,
codified at CGS § 8-30g. The law took effect July 1, 1990.
How many affordable housing units have been built as a result of the law?
It is difficult to determine the number of units added to the state's housing stock under the procedure because nostate agency keeps statistics on the number of units built following a successful appeal. Furthermore, developers
sometimes use the possibility of an appeal under the procedure as leverage when negotiating a project with alocal planning or zoning commission, but there is no way of determining how many units have been approved
under such circumstances.
CGS § 8-30g and the related regulations

Learn
More

Annual Lists Showing Percentage of Affordable
Housing in Each Municipality
Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals
Procedure (2013-R-0002)
Cases Tried Under the Affordable Housing
Land Use Appeals Procedure From 2008 to2015 (2015-R-0268)

Municipal Affordable Housing Stock:
2003, 2008, and 2013 (2015-R-0069)
Housing Units Built Under the Affordable
Housing Appeals Procedure (2013-R0143)
File 187 (2016), An Act Concerning theAffordable Housing Land Use Appeals
Procedure

Analyst: Julia Singer Bansal
Connecticut General Assembly
860-240-8400 | www.cga.ct.gov/olr