Addressing A Crucial Issue: Affordable Housing

The housing crisis continues to escalate in Connecticut, where there is a housing shortage, and the rents continue to rise. The average family in Connecticut has a long list of bills to pay between gas, cable, utilities, health insurance, food, and more—however, no expense burdens families in Connecticut like housing. A family’s limited discretionary income due to housing costs may mean sacrificing healthcare or basic needs. Worse, one emergency expense can put a family already stretched to the limit on the brink of homelessness. The standard definition of an affordable home is one where the resident spends no more than 30% of their income to pay rent. Anything higher can cause the resident to struggle financially.

Many low-income households are spending more than 50% of their incomes on housing which leaves them vulnerable and unable to get ahead. Renée Dobos, CEO of Connecticut Housing Partners (CHP), through her organization, is currently working on a project to rehabilitate and preserve 113 affordable housing rental units for families living paycheck to paycheck, ensuring vulnerable children, and working people don’t end up without a roof over their head and can alleviate a tremendous cost burden that keeps them from getting out of the cycle of poverty.

“More affordable housing options mean many Connecticut families have an opportunity to build a better life for themselves and save for things like college, retirement, their first permanent home and achieve financial stability,” says Renée.

Due to the shortage of 86,000 units of affordable housing in Connecticut, Renée realizes that the way to solve this crisis is by building new affordable housing, which will alleviate housing cost burdens for low to moderate-income households. Increasing the housing supply through building significant, planned housing developments will drive the largest gains in housing affordability.

Connecticut Housing Partners is a chartered member of NeighborWorks America, which creates opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities. As a congressionally chartered and funded nonprofit, NeighborWorks supports organizations like CHP, providing communities with affordable housing, financial counseling and coaching, resident engagement, and collaboration in health, employment, and education. Through NeighborWorks, CHP receives funding for many transformational programs, training and leadership development, operations, peer-to-peer networking through national and regional conferences, and capacity building upgrades, which has helped them amplify their reach and impact. They also conducts rigorous assessments before their acceptance and every year thereafter.

According to Renée, creating affordable housing opportunities for low and moderate-income families has been the most significant endeavor for her. “For over 30 years, we have provided high-quality, affordable rental units to families so they can achieve financial stability and thrive. We own 12 affordable housing properties providing over 500 safe and stable high-quality rental units to over 1000 low-income residents living at or under 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI),” she explains. “We are committed to broadening our impact throughout Connecticut. The other project that will address the affordable housing crisis for the elderly, is building a brand-new senior-only development in Monroe, CT, the first of its kind in this town. This new development will allow these low-income seniors to “age in place” comfortably.”

Renée and her team plan to build 100 affordable housing units yearly for the next three years. They will only do this if they secure significant funding from the corporate sector, as well as from Private Foundations, Government institutions, and private donors. As an organization, Connecticut Housing Partners works hard to build and transform lives. They are going into neighborhoods and building a new property or rehabilitating an older property to preserve it for the next 25 years. Connecticut Housing Partners is revitalizing communities and helping folks that otherwise may be in an inadequate housing situation.

They are working hard to provide not just a home for people but a sense of community, a sense of belonging, and the ability to pay their rent and build a life for the future. “The Connecticut Housing Partners Model enables the most vulnerable among us to achieve a higher quality of life through foundational resources such as access to health care, stable and affordable housing, education and job training, support for sustained employment, asset ownership, civic engagement, and other pathways. 95% of clients retain housing for one year, and residents stay with us for 12 years on average,” asserts Renée.

We are also growing two additional revenue streams, to support our non-profit mission of providing affordable housing to low-income families. Real Estate Masters is a third-party property management and consulting company that actively manages properties and offers consulting services to commercial, market-rate, and affordable properties. Wise Choice Realtors is a full-service real estate agency that provides a full range of traditional real estate services. What makes Wise Choice different is all profits from each transaction are put toward its social mission by reinvestment into CHP.