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SB 1361 Connecticut Senate · 2025 Regular Session

AN ACT ESTABLISHING A HOUSING GROWTH FUND FOR A MUNICIPAL GRANT PROGRAM.

SB 1361 establishes a $50 million annual Housing Growth Fund to provide grants to municipalities based on their housing development activity. Municipalities earn points for approved dwelling units: 1 point for standard units, 1.5 for mixed-use or mixed-income developments, 2 for transit-oriented or multifamily housing, and 3 for affordable units (at or below 30% of state median income) or set-aside developments. Grant amounts are determined by each municipality's housing growth score (total points) relative to the statewide total. This program directly affects local governments by linking funding to the type and location of housing they approve, aiming to increase affordable housing availability and promote transit-oriented development.
Issues: ✓ Budget & TaxesSupports Budget & TaxesAllocates $50M annual state funds for municipal housing grants, directly funding affordable housing programs through budget appropriation.90% confidence ✓ HousingSupports HousingEstablishes $50M Housing Growth Fund with highest points (3) for affordable units (≤30% AMI), directly advancing affordable housing through municipal grants.95% confidence ✓ TransportationSupports TransportationBill incentivizes transit-oriented housing development (2 points) and explicitly includes it as a subject, promoting public transit integration through municipal grants.85% confidence
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 20, 2025 Last action May 7, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Raised Bill → HSG Joint Favorable Substitute · 7 edits
MODERATE
The bill was revised from a 'Raised Bill' to a 'Substitute Bill' with significant substantive changes including a delayed effective date from July 1, 2025 to October 1, 2025, expanded definitions for housing-related terms, and a new scoring system that awards additional points for housing built in mixed-use, mixed-income, transit-oriented, multifamily, or housing authority developments. The substitute version also adds penalties for municipalities that fail to submit required documentation and clarifies exemptions for developments resulting from successful affordable housing appeals.
Scope change
The bill's scope expanded to include a comprehensive scoring mechanism that incentivizes specific types of housing development through point-based weighting, while also adding compliance requirements for municipalities to provide documentation for score calculations.
TIMELINE

Effective date changed from July 1, 2025 to October 1, 2025, giving municipalities additional time to prepare for the new scoring system and grant program.

DEFINITION

Added twelve new definitions including 'Dwelling unit', 'Housing authority', 'Mixed-income development', 'Mixed-use development', 'Multifamily housing', 'Set-aside development', and 'Transit-oriented development' to clarify the bill's terminology.

REQUIREMENT

Municipalities must now submit documentation to the Commissioner by December 1, 2025 and annually thereafter, or they become ineligible for grant funding.

ELIGIBILITY

New scoring system awards additional points for housing built in mixed-use developments (1.5 points), mixed-income developments (1.5 points), transit-oriented developments (2 points), multifamily housing (2 points), housing authority developments (2 points), and set-aside developments (3 points), with a base of 1 point per dwelling unit.

ENFORCEMENT

Commissioner gains authority to request, inspect, and audit any reports, books, records, and financial information necessary to calculate housing growth scores.

EXEMPTIONS

Developments completed through successful appeals of affordable housing denials in Superior Court are exempt from point assessment, preventing double-counting of already-approved affordable housing.

FISCAL

Funding allocation language moved to Section 2 and clarified that the $50 million annual allocation applies to grants awarded under Section 4 based on the new scoring system.

Floor votes

How they voted

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
15
Key actions
2
Committee
3
May 5, 2025
Upper · Passed
Joint Favorable
upper
Mar 6, 2025
Upper · Passed
Joint Favorable Substitute
upper
Feb 20, 2025
Committee
REF. TO JOINT COMM. ON Housing
upper
0 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.