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The town has about 7,500 households, only 178 of which were affordable at the time, so if New Canaan could build roughly 45 to 55 new units every four years, it could stave off outside projects through the 8-30g moratorium.110 Millport Avenue, New Canaan, CT, Connecticut 06840 In 2007, over strong opposition, a 1 percent surcharge was approved on building permits for all new or renovated homes, in order to create an affordable housing fund.

After five years, the town settled the dispute and swapped out the parking lot for a parcel a mile away, though still near downtown.Īfter that ordeal, town officials decided to take matters into their own hands.

The proposal, which overcame restrictions on multifamily housing by including 21 affordable units, was resoundingly rejected by the local planning commission but repeatedly upheld in court. Among the firm’s first projects was 104 apartments on a private parking lot next to the New Canaan train station. And it was one of New Canaan’s own who launched the first salvo.Ĭharles Berman, a resident and real estate executive experienced in wrangling with local ordinances, started Avalon Properties (later known as AvalonBay) in 1993. Hobbs’s metaphor, the law has created an affordable housing arms race. Towns can get a four-year reprieve, however, if they ensure a certain number of affordable units have been built. If not, developers effectively have the right to ignore zoning restrictions and build whatever housing they want, so long as 30 percent of those units are set aside as affordable. Every Connecticut community must ensure that 10 percent of its domiciles are affordable to a family earning, in most cases, about $64,000 a year or less. The law responsible for all this, statute 8-30g, is rather simple and straightforward. “And nobody’s turned into downtown Stamford.” “In the past decade, I won’t say the towns have embraced it, but they’ve learned to live with it,” Mr. About a quarter have been in Fairfield County. Tim Hollister, a partner at the law firm of Shipman & Goodwin, has fought more than 100 cases against towns under the state law. Some towns like Fairfield have implemented mandatory inclusionary housing programs, similar to those in New York City Darien, after spending millions on blocking projects, has started building its own while Milford, just a few inlets up the coast, has faced down numerous lawsuits and politicians have turned this issue into a reliable get-out-the-vote tactic. In New Canaan, where the average home sells for $1.4 million, that number stands at 2.7 percent.Īll across southwestern Connecticut, some of the wealthiest communities in America are grappling with the mandate to make room for those who are not wealthy. A 1990 state law meant to reverse decades of housing discrimination requires all of Connecticut’s 169 municipalities to guarantee that at least 10 percent of their housing units are affordable. Not that the town had much choice in the matter. In Fairfield County, by many measures the most economically stratified county in perhaps the most economically stratified state in the country, New Canaan has recently become something of an affordable housing leader. Hobbs is chairman of the housing authority for this town of 20,000 - a place more often associated with Philip Johnson’s Glass House and Waveny, the 300-acre estate of a founder of Texaco, not to mention custom-built Hobbs homes on half- to four-acre lots. In addition to being president of the family business, Mr. In his wood-paneled office on Thursday, Scott Hobbs was going over what may be his most challenging project yet: the Millport Apartments, a 73-unit affordable housing complex in the center of New Canaan. Ft.” “ Imus in the Afternoon.” “ Living Very Large.” “2008 Best Residential Remodel Over $3 Million.” “2010 Outstanding Home Over 12,000 Sq. The offices of Hobbs Inc., a third-generation home builder here, are lined with awards and framed articles for the firm’s decades of work.
