On Thursday, October 6, New Fairfield’s Housing Opportunities Committee (HOC) met to further their aim in identifying the need for affordable housing in the town. Though most of the meeting was spent parsing language for an upcoming survey, they also touched on the recent Center for Housing Opportunity’s Fairfield County Scorecard that ranked New Fairfield and Sherman at the list’s bottom.
“It’s a place to start,” Ms. Anita Brown said, giving the 1 out of 5 ranking a positive spin. Going over options, she said, “That’s the beauty of what we’re trying to do here…there are a lot of different ways of making housing affordable for people.” Some fellow committee members agreed that there are opportunities ahead. Committee member Mr. Jim Mandella questioned the facts behind the Scorecard, proposing that it may not tell the entire story, “that’s why I wouldn’t put too much emphasis on it,” he said.
There is a healthy amount of fear in town that “affordable housing” will mean new, multi-unit construction but committee members noted that this is not the case. They are interested in taking next steps on a variety of regulation changes with the Zoning Commission, among whom there is mixed appetite for change. It was noted that Zoning will wait for data that identifies need before acting.
To that end, the HOC discussed and carefully curated survey questions that were inspired by a recent Roxbury housing survey. Mindful tweaks that committee members shifted demographic-based questions to inspire more meaningful responses. For example, instead of simply asking if a resident works full-time or part-time, they will also ask if that work is inside or outside of New Fairfield and how far. HOC members were sensitive with word choice to avoid off-putting survey recipients.
Committee members spoke at length about plans for distributing the survey, and a hybrid approach may be the answer, from printing to social media and advertising to mailings. They hope to secure responses from as many homes and adults in New Fairfield as possible, plus feedback from people who work in town but do not live here. They would like to gather input from young adults, those interested in downsizing, adding accessory apartments, senior housing, and more. There will be costs associated with the printing of surveys, in addition to the possible hiring of a consultant to finalize the survey and aggregate the data. There was also a brief discussion about holding community forums to better educate and gather data. HOC members acknowledged that there can be apathy regarding completing surveys, but there is still great hope.
By Sarah Opdahl