Policy Framework
Housing is a competitiveness issue.  Successful, sustainable economies need a diverse workforce.  All workers need homes that meet their family’s needs.  As regions evolve economically and demographically, workforce and workforce housing needs change. 

As a report from the Brookings Institute recently noted, skill and suitability of the labor market, availability and cost of housing, and adequacy of the transportation system are among the key factors influencing business location decision-making.  So too, did the The Connecticut Regional Institute for the 21^st Century identify workforce and workforce housing as keys to Fairfield County’s future. 

“Only the NJTpk/Route 1 corridor has a comparable set of resources [to the Coastal Corridor region]”.   However, this New Jersey Corridor has much better access to international and domestic air and sea hubs in Newark.  Its economic and institutional assets include a broad range of corporate headquarters and a large concentration of pharmaceutical companies and institutions (including Princeton and Rutgers).  It has access to a much larger and diverse residential market than Connecticut’s Coastal Corridor.” 

Nationally, 43 percent of the United States workforce will be eligible to retire in the next decade.  According to the Census 2000, 23 percent of Fairfield County’s population is aged 45-64 and 31 percent are 25-44 years of age.  With the largest segment of the workforce aging, and fewer younger workers entering the workforce, the United States will be facing a labor shortage by the end of this decade.

The competition to attract and retain skilled labor will define Fairfield County’s ability to maintain its economic vitality and standard of living.  We will need workers to fill jobs that are being created and to replace the workers who will be retiring in growing numbers over the next decade.  Without steady growth in the labor force, our economy cannot grow and, over time, will contract.  The past three decades of Fairfield County growth demonstrate the consequences of economic growth without adequate housing growth.  When workers cannot afford to live close to where they work and are forced to drive long distances, highway congestion intensifies, open space is consumed, and urban sprawl is accelerated, further threatening the economic competitiveness of the region.

Investing in housing is investing in Fairfield County’s future.  Key questions to be answered now are:  What kind of housing?  For whom?  Where?  And, most relevant to SACIA, who should be involved in the effort?

Additional Resources:
“Why Housing Matters," Pp. 10-13 in Meeting our Nation’s Housing Challenges, Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission, May 2002.  http://www.mhc.gov/MHCReport.pdf

“Editors Note: Housing Solutions Reflect the Times” by James Carr. Fannie Mae Foundation, Housing Facts and Findings, Summer 2000, Volume 2, Issue 2, http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hff/v2i2-ed_note.shtml

“Reinventing the Company Town: Employer Assisted Housing in the 21^st Century” by Stephanie A. Jennings. Fannie Mae Foundation, Housing Facts and Findings, Summer 2000, Volume 2, Issue 2, http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hff/v2i2-company_town.shtml.

“Sidebars to Cover Story” Fannie Mae Foundation, Housing Facts and Findings, Summer 2000, Volume 2, Issue 2, http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hff/v2i2-sidebars.shtml

“Perspectives: EAH Benefits Employees, Employers, and Communities” by Ann D. McLaughlin. Fannie Mae Foundation, Housing Facts and Findings, Summer 2000, Volume 2, Issue 2, http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hff/v2i2-index.shtml

What Is the State of Affordable Housing?
Affordable housing is typically considered housing for individuals whose income is thirty to eighty percent of the area median income.  Housing the workforce has emerged as an issue for not only housing advocates, but also for policy makers and employers. 

The National Context
The Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission reported that while most Americans are exceptionally well housed, millions of families still have serious housing problems.  Affordability is the single greatest housing challenge facing the nation.  According to their study, in 1999, one in nine households reported spending more than half its income on housing, while hundreds of thousands went homeless on any given night.

Spending 30 percent or more of household income on housing is an indicator of an affordability problem; spending more than 50 percent of household income on housing is a severe affordability problem.  In Fairfield County, more than one out of four households spent 30 percent or more on household income on housing:

• 51,100 or 27.8 percent of the owner occupied households (224,516) spent 30 percent or more of their household income on housing costs. 
• 37,962 or 38.2 percent of the renter occupied households (99,716) spent 30 percent or more of their household income on rent.
• 89,062 or 27.5 percent of the total Fairfield County households (324,232) spent 30 percent or more of their household income on housing.

Workers are under housing pressure

“Working full time does not guarantee immunity from acute housing affordability problems.” 

The Bipartisan Millennial Housing Commission.

The lack of affordable housing is an issue faced by workers across the nation.  A 2001 study conducted by the National Housing Conference’s Center for Housing Policy, Paycheck to Paycheck: Working Families and the Cost of Housing in America, studied whether working families who earn the prevailing wages for selected occupations are able to pay reasonable costs for housing in the communities in which they live.  The analysis was carried out for 5 vital occupations - Janitor, Elementary School Teacher, Police Officer, Licensed Practical Nurse, and Retail Salesperson - in 60 of the nation's largest housing markets.

These occupations were selected because of the vital role these occupations play in the community.  Retail Salesperson and Janitor represent occupations that are attractive to first-time entrants in the workforce.  Licensed Practical Nurse was chosen as it represents the health care sector and since this occupation has lower qualifications than a registered nurse it was viewed as an occupation suitable for a career ladder. 

These same occupations have relevance for Connecticut.  According to the Connecticut Occupation Forecast, these same five occupations studied elsewhere are listed among those occupations projected to have the most openings over the next ten years.  Indeed, the shortage of nurses and allied health care professionals and teachers is a looming issue in Connecticut.

The National Housing Conference’s study concluded that:

• The number of working families with “critical housing needs, i.e. those who pay at least 50 percent of their income for housing or are living in severely inadequate housing, has grown from 3 million to 3.7 million between 1997 and 1999.  About 8 out of 10 pay more than half their income for housing. The other 20 percent live in severely inadequate housing and a small fraction of working families deal with both of these problems.

• With regard to rental housing, on a single income Janitors are able to rent a one-bedroom apartment on 30 percent of their income in just 6 out of 60 metropolitan areas, while Retail Sales persons manage to afford a one-bedroom using this traditional standard in only 3 out of 60 localities.  For two-bedroom apartments, the situation is even worse.  The same problem exists for Teachers, Police Officers, and Licensed Practical Nurses in the highest cost metropolitan areas.
  
• On the homeowner side, it was found that households dependent on one Teacher’s or one Police Officer’s salary alone cannot afford to buy a median priced home in two-thirds of the metropolitan areas.  Licensed Practical Nurses are priced out of all but the lowest cost-to-income markets, while Janitors and Retail Salesperson cannot afford to purchase a home across the board.

In Fairfield County
The high cost of housing in Fairfield County compounds the affordability problem.  According to a national study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition:

• There are severe housing cost problems across the nation.
• Connecticut is the sixth most expensive state for renters in the country
• The Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan area remains the third costliest rental market in the entire nation.

Affordable Housing in Fairfield County is housing for individuals in the following income ranges:  

• Land - Sites physically suitable and appropriately zoned are limited and expensive
• Availability of Financing - Lack of financial resources required to subsidize the cost of land and development of new units or to finance existing units.
• Governmental constraints - The local regulatory process for residential development is complex. Additionally, many communities have adopted restrictive residential zoning policies or policies that add to development costs.
• Public attitudes - While there is awareness of the lack of Affordable Housing among community leaders, gaining public support for new housing, especially affordable housing can be a thorny issue. Increased public awareness on the need for and the economic benefits of Affordable Housing is needed to address the perception that housing is a drain on municipal budgets.

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