Drive down Black Rock Turnpike in Fairfield, Connecticut, and there is a wooded area, sitting in the midst of a neighborhood that is peaceful and quiet but somehow also isolated.
The site nearly looked very different. A 96-unit, six-story building was proposed there under the state’s affordable housing law. But town officials blocked it after local residents raised concerns.
In communities across the country, a housing shortage is driving up prices and rents, making it harder for moderate-income households to afford homes. Limited supply and surging demand are leading to increased competition, displacement, and a growing affordability crisis in many communities.
In response, states like Connecticut, Massachusetts, and California have adopted affordable housing mandates, trying to force local communities to build more homes.
But many communities across the country, from Connecticut to California, are resisting the state efforts, arguing for more local control over housing decisions and claiming they better understand their communities’ needs.
This growing tension between state mandates and local community control is shaping the future housing policy and affordability nationwide. Local zoning laws restrict what can be built and where, which makes it harder for states to address their housing shortages.
The 96-unit, six-story building in Fairfield was proposed under Connecticut law known as 8-30g, which aims to increase affordable housing availability by letting developers to bypass the local zoning restrictions if a percentage of the units are set aside for affordable housing.
Residents who live around the proposed development raised concerns about what they described as a mega-building, such as the fire department’s ability to respond and unsystematic amenities.
Roger Schulman, who lives in the neighborhood worries that developers might exploit the law without prioritizing true affordability.
“Even the most well-intentioned legislation can be misused for quick and dirty profit,” said Schulman.
Under the 8-30g law, local communities can apply for exemptions as long as they meet certain thresholds for affordable housing construction. In those cases, developers have to follow the local zoning regulations, which means local communities have more control over the states.
Fairfield applied for a four-year moratorium on 8-30g in December 2024, and is still waiting for the decision from the State of Connecticut Department of Housing, which is expected as early as March. If granted, the town will not have to accept the unwanted developers’ proposal for four years.
“We recognize that some of the strategies and tools will not work for all 169 municipalities in Connecticut, that is why it is incumbent upon local leaders to develop solutions that work best for their communities,” said Mark Barnhart, Fairfield’s community and economic development director.
Chip Parrish, a real estate development manager of Building Neighborhoods Together, a nonprofit organization in Bridgeport providing housing services for people, said it is necessary to strike a balance between the states and municipal governments.
“It’s kind of crazy oversight from a municipal standpoint, a lot of these regulations are important,” Parrish said. “It can make the work easier if there was no zoning at all, but that could cause some catastrophic problems as well.”
Fairfield is not the only one asking for more local control. New Canaan was granted a state 8-30g moratorium on August 19, 2024, so that developers have to abide by the local zoning regulations for four years.
The number of affordable housing units increased in 117 Connecticut municipalities over the past 13 years, from 2011 to 2023. According to the most recent available Department of Housing (DOH) appeals list in 2024, out of 169 municipalities in Connecticut, 28 municipalities are currently meeting or exceeding the 10% affordable housing threshold, making them exempt from the 8-30g’s requirement. This includes communities undergoing the developer appeals process, which allows developers to challenge a town’s rejection of an affordable housing proposal under 8-30g.
But despite that progress, Connecticut’s persistent housing shortage will still be among this year’s top priorities for the state legislature’s Democratic majorities, leaders of the house and Senate announced in January. According to a 2024 Consumer Affairs report, Connecticut ranked among the worst states for renters, in part due its high income-to-rent ratio. Officials said despite longstanding obstacles to enacting effective residents, they encourages lawmakers and advocates to find common ground.
Similar battles are happening in other states as well. For example, Massachusetts’s Chapter 40B law and California’s SB 9 law, the states’ affordable housing mandates, have also run into opposition at the local level.
But state-level affordable housing mandates are intended to solve the affordable housing shortage issues, which are driven by several interrelated economic factors.
For example, housing production didn’t keep pace with population growth, leading to low inventory and rising prices. Rising costs for materials, labor, and land have made it more expensive to build new affordable homes — a problem that could be made worse by President Trump’s new tariffs on steel and aluminum. Higher interest rates increased borrowing costs for developers and buyers, and large investors have bought up properties, which can reduce the supply of houses and increase prices.
The local community’s restrictive zoning laws add more limits on where the house can be built.
“Local resistance to housing development limits supply which impacts housing markets and growth, preventing homes near jobs creates workforce shortages,” said Jennifer Raitt, the Executive Director of Northern Middlesex Council of Governments, “Unresolved housing issues will worsen inequality and limit economic growth.”
The 8-30g mandate is controversial among the residents, who argue it is helping developers without doing much to increase the supply of affordable homes.
“I would like to see an impartial study done of every proposed project to determine how much it would benefit the cause of affordable housing, and how much it would impact the community,” said Schulman.
Housing experts say the mandates are necessary and effective, but they need strong enforcement, by-right development provisions, and financial incentives that encourage long-term affordability.
“Overcoming this resistance requires policy and legal reforms, community education, and incentives that align housing production with broader economic and social benefits,” Raitt said.