New Norwalk committee begins work distributing affordable housing money

NORWALK, Conn. — A brand-new city committee held its first meeting this month to start deciding how to use nearly $3 million meant to help build affordable housing.

The Affordable Housing Account Ordinance Committee is composed of city residents and City Council members who will decide which housing projects get money from the city’s Affordable Housing Account. The money in that account comes from fees the city charges developers.

Steven Kleppin, the city’s Planning and Zoning Director, walked the committee through how those fees work. Developers of new apartment buildings with three or more units in Norwalk must either include “workforce housing” apartments on-site or pay a fee into the city’s affordable housing account.

Smaller multifamily projects typically choose to pay the fee, while larger projects sometimes pay a partial fee when their required share of affordable units results in a fraction. The city also now charges certain commercial projects $10 per $1,000 of construction costs, and those payments are deposited into the same housing fund.

Norwalk requires that at least 10% of housing in a project be affordable for people earning 80% of the state’s median income. Kleppin said Norwalk is actually already above that mark at about 14.25% citywide. Currently, the fund has nearly $3 million.

“So it’s about time that we start distributing it to projects that need a little assistance,” Kleppin told the committee. “So that’s kind of your task.”

The committee will work to finalize rules on how projects can apply for funding and how they will be scored.

Under the current draft, developers with more than 20 units could ask for up to $1 million. Smaller projects could ask for up to $500,000.

To qualify, a project would need to score at least 80 points out of 100. Projects would lose eligibility entirely if they are in a flood zone, require a zoning variance, owe back taxes, or violate other city rules.

Points would be awarded based on factors such as how affordable the units are, how close the project is to transit, how environmentally sustainable it is, whether it’s construction-ready, and whether it includes for-sale units or larger units for families.

Kleppin said the goal is to get City Council approval sometime in the first quarter of 2027, though he cautioned that timeline could shift.

Several committee members pushed back on parts of the draft. Valerie Jefferson, a Norwalk landlord and real estate agent, said the current draft seems built mostly for large developers. She asked whether smaller property owners, including those adding a unit or two to their homes, could get a fair shot at funding, too.

Kleppin responded that those owners technically could apply, but noted the deed-restriction requirement, which locks in affordability forever, might make that option less appealing for homeowners.

Jefferson also raised a separate concern: the program primarily supports rental housing rather than homeownership. “It’s hitting really just one problem,” she said, asking whether the fund could do more to help people build equity by owning homes, not just renting them.

Kleppin said the deed restrictions make that difficult to structure and suggested other city programs, including loan programs the mayor’s office is exploring, might be better suited to that goal.

City Council member Broderick Sawyer asked several pointed questions about the fund’s math and how quickly the money could reach organizations in need. Kleppin said the committee needs to finalize its scoring criteria first, which will likely take more than one meeting.

Committee members also floated the idea of directing fines from non-compliant properties back into the fund. Kleppin confirmed three properties are currently not complying with reporting requirements and are facing possible enforcement action. He called the idea of redirecting those fines “a good one” worth exploring with the city’s legal team.

East Norwalk resident Diane Cece was the only member of the public to speak. She said she wants the city to think about affordable housing more broadly, not just through the workforce housing rules already on the books. “I wouldn’t want to see projects supported that may contribute to generationally what may be a stigma associated with affordable housing,” she said, adding she’d like to see affordable housing spread throughout the city rather than concentrated in certain areas, with deeper options for seniors, veterans and people with disabilities.

The committee did not set a firm date for its next meeting, but members are expected to continue reviewing the draft rules over the next several weeks and reconvene to work through the details. Kleppin also floated the idea of eventually stepping back from the committee himself and having a Planning and Zoning Commission member take his seat, so he and his senior planner can focus on supporting the committee as staff rather than serving as voting members.