Connecticut’s New Housing Toolkit: Municipal Development Authority Sees Uptick Ahead of Oct. 1 Changes

The Connecticut Municipal Development Authority is beginning to pick up speed as towns across the state look for new ways to add housing and revive their downtowns. At a recent briefing, Executive Director David Kooris said 26 municipalities have already opted in, with more expected after October 1 when changes to state law take effect.

“We’ve seen a pronounced uptick in interest over the last six to nine months,” Kooris said. “There’s absolutely demand for the kind of support that we’re offering.”

The authority was created by the legislature in 2023 to help municipalities increase housing supply, attract mixed-use projects, and leverage transit assets. With Connecticut short nearly 100,000 affordable homes, over half of renters cost-burdened, and homelessness up 10% in 2025, the CMDA aims to close the gap.

As of October 1, 167 municipalities will be eligible, though only those with train stations, bus rapid transit hubs, or walkable downtowns qualify in practice. The program is voluntary, requiring a local resolution to opt in, and Kooris emphasized that zoning authority remains local.

“We don’t have the authority to override local decision-making,” he said. “We can make recommendations, but it’s ultimately within the zoning commission’s purview whether or not to adopt them.”

Once a town opts in, CMDA staff work with local officials to designate target geographies — typically half a mile around a transit station or within a downtown core — and then review zoning to certify housing growth zones.

Kooris said the test is whether those zones are “likely to substantially increase the number of dwelling units.” That can mean allowing multifamily where single-family dominates, or higher-density development in an urban center.

“Don’t get overly focused on the word ‘substantial,’” he said. “If you’re allowing higher density in a place where your existing housing stock is predominantly single family, it’s going to be substantial.”

If zoning passes muster or is amended in line with CMDA recommendation, the authority and the municipality enter a memorandum of agreement to establish a development district. Only then can funding applications be submitted, either by municipalities or developers directly.

Eligible projects include transit-oriented housing, demolition or rehab of vacant structures, and downtown redevelopment. Applications undergo a 90-day review before going to the CMDA board and then the State Bond Commission. With $60 million available now and another $30 million authorized for 2026, the authority has $90 million in total capacity .

The model is designed to be both flexible and catalytic, Kooris said.

“It’s impossible for all 169 of our municipalities to build out the breadth of capacity and expertise,” Kooris said. “What we’re doing is creating a toolkit that municipalities can draw on. Even if we only affect one percent of the state’s land area, aligning zoning and permitting in those places can have a dramatic impact.”

Naugatuck was the first to opt in back in February and is now poised to finalize its development district anchored by the relocation of the train station downtown. The borough has already cleared former industrial sites and advanced infrastructure to support redevelopment. Kooris said the seven-month timeline from opt-in to district certification will shrink to about three months as CMDA adds staff.

Other communities — Bristol, Groton, Fairfield, and Danbury — have since joined, with Groton advancing a 300-unit mixed-income project and Danbury linking membership to a $100 million downtown revitalization plan .

The October 1 budget implementer provisions are expected to further smooth the process. Towns with representative town meetings will no longer need to convene a full meeting to opt in; boards of selectmen can now act directly, with public comment taken at the same session.

“It’s a lot of work to call a town meeting and you never know who’s going to show up,” Kooris said. “This change will make it simpler for communities that want to move forward.”

Public engagement, he stressed, remains central

 “There will still be the requirement of public comment at the initial step of the process, and then every project still goes through local zoning,” he said. “We can’t fund anything that doesn’t go through your local zoning process.”

The authority is also exploring how to align state-level permitting — from traffic and flood management to historic preservation — with these districts.

“If we can come up with an approach that aligns the state regulatory regime with the local permitting regime on one percent of the land area, it can have a dramatic and fundamental impact on the state’s land use patterns,” Kooris said .

Momentum for new housing policy has also been visible outside Hartford. At YIMBYtown 2025 in New Haven, Redfin economist Daryl Fairweather warned that “it’s getting harder and harder to break into homeownership in this country.” 0

Mayor Justin Elicker pledged the city was “committed to growing inclusively” with 6,000 units in the pipeline.

The conference came as Connecticut leaders continued to debate Gov. Ned Lamont’s June veto of HB 5002, a sweeping housing bill he argued infringed on local control. That fight underscored why CMDA’s opt-in framework — reinforcing local authority while providing state-backed resources — is emerging as a politically viable alternative.

With Naugatuck poised to be the first out of the gate and new members lining up, the authority is on the cusp of turning policy into bricks and mortar. As Kooris put it, “This isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s about reinforcing local objectives and building capacity to get projects done.”