November 17, 2025
Where I grew up in rural western Pennsylvania, the value of a house was determined by its structure, maintenance requirements, the number of bedrooms, the number of bathrooms and acreage. But in Connecticut, housing values are determined by three things, “location, location and location.”
This results in significant value differences between similar houses depending upon which town the house is located. Thus, there is constant demand for more “affordable housing,” but what this really means is affordable housing in desirable towns. There is plenty of affordable housing in Connecticut. For example, you can buy a house in Hartford for close to $100,000 or a condo for $80,000 – easily affordable. But few people want to move to Hartford.
My family has the good fortune of living in Fairfield. The streets are safe; the schools are fine and there is a beachfront on a lake within walking distance. We have pristine beaches that overlook The Sound, two Audubon Society parks for birding, excellent restaurants (although overpriced), the Fairfield Theater Company and a train that gives us access to New York City, Boston and even Washington D.C. It doesn’t matter who wins the local elections. The town is run either by Republicans or Democrats who think like Republicans. Fiscal responsibility is the norm.
As I joke with my neighbors, “After Fairfield, there is only heaven.”
The result is that the average home price in $907,000. $500,000 gives you a shack with an optional roof. Other desirable towns such as Madison, Guilford, Westport, Darien, New Canaan and Greenwich have similar or even higher prices. The rest of Connecticut is on the outside looking in.
In order to force the desirable towns to build more affordable housing, the Connecticut legislature passed Law 8-30g requiring all towns to provide at least 10% of their housing to be affordable. Towns that refused could not use their zoning regulations to stop developers from building housing as long the development was 30% affordable.
This law was a real estate lawyer’s dream, resulting in endless litigation but little affordable housing being built. Towns with savvy political leaders such as Fairfield and New Canaan managed to receive waivers from the law.
Thus, the Connecticut Legislature recently passed HB 5002 where liberals prevailed in making it much easier for the state to repeal town zoning laws. But reaction was quick and furious from the wealthier towns and Governor Ned Lamont, eyeing reelection in 2026, vetoed it. The resulting special session weakened the law.
But this does not mean legislators should give up on increasing the stock of desirable housing. The following should be considered:
1. Allow school vouchers. This has become increasingly popular in other states and allows our poorer citizens to have the same choice as the wealthy. The main factor in housing prices in Connecticut is the school system of the town. I have patients who are gay and have no intention of raising children who have told me they bought their house in a town with a good school system because they know it will preserve its value. Our poorer citizens do not see an increase in housing equity as the wealthy, further accelerating wealth disparity and ill will.
2. Make the streets safe. At present, crime is not tolerated in wealthy towns and those who are arrested are treated severely. The same does not apply to crime committed in our poorer cities. Allowing carjackers to be freed without bail or career criminals to continue to ply their trade destroys housing values in our inner cities.
3. Stop the generous subsidies for Section 8 Housing. Section 8 is a well-intentioned plan that allows the state to subsidize the rental income to landlords so that our poor citizens can have place to live. The problem is that these subsidies have become so generous that landlords are buying houses in towns like Bridgeport because they can make a profit renting them out to the poor. This escalates housing prices and pushes the poor out of the market.
4. Lower property taxes in the cities. Our cities are run by Democrats who have given municipal unions competitive salaries with huge benefits such as outstanding health insurance and generous pensions, even with early retirement. The result, taxes on houses are astronomical. In Hartford, taxes are 6.90% of a house’s assessed value whereas in Darien, it is 1.76% Thus a house in Hartford assessed at $500,000 has an annual tax of $34,500 whereas a house of the same assessment in Darien is $8,800! This is not only unfair, it is insane.
5. The Federal Reserve has to stop printing money. Obviously, our state officials can do little about this, but our Congressman and Senators need to speak out on this issue. Flooding our economy with fiat money has resulted not only in unaffordable housing for many, but asset bubbles in gold, silver, the stock market (especially tech stocks) and cryptocurrencies. This will not end well.
High housing prices are forcing people to leave the state while causing ill-will among those who remain. But nothing our legislature is doing will change this. Bold alternatives must be considered.
Contact Dr. Bentivegna: jfbentivegna@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter (X); @joebentivegnamd
Dr. Bentivegna gives anyone his permission to republish this article
Leave a Reply