February 24, 2014
State Representative Larry B. Butler attended a meeting in Milford that included a tour of affordable housing complexes. He was joined by State Representative Kim Rose (D-Milford), Vice-Chair of the legislature’s Housing Committee, State Representatives Paul Davis and James Maroney and Mayor Ben Blake.
The purpose of the meeting was to tour Milford’s diverse affordable and public housing developments in smaller communities like Milford.
“I wanted to visit Milford to see the challenges they are facing with affordable housing developments and developers. I also wanted to encourage local leaders to develop an Incentive Housing Zone to help direct developments in an area the town determines best fit for affordable housing.” Rep. Butler stated.
The hope is towns like Milford would embrace more affordable housing if they could decide where it’s being built.”
Milford also just received a 20K grant to establish an Incentive Housing Zone (IHZ) that will allow local leaders to find the best place to build affordable housing in Milford. “Milford is a dense seaside city so we’re hoping that establishing an IHZ will encourage developers to build within the zone instead of fighting local zoning to build in other areas,” Rep. Rose said.
“We can all agree that affordable housing is on top of the list for working families in our communities,” Rep. Rose said. “At the same time, we want to make sure these complexes are developed in appropriate areas. I thank the Rep. Butler for taking the time to visit and seeing the impact of affordable and public housing developments in Milford.”
"I appreciate Rep. Rose putting this meeting together and Housing Chairman Rep. Butler coming to Milford to listen to some of our specific issues. While we recognize the need for affordable housing and acknowledge it is one of the state's priorities, our goal is to help return local control to determine smart growth through initiatives such as Incentivized Housing Zones," Rep. James Maroney said.