HOMEConnecticut Moves to New Stage, With $20,000 Cut

November 10, 2009 -- Gov. M. Jodi Rell reduced the planning and incentive money left in the HOMEConnecticut account by $20,000 last week when she announced $34 million in rescissions.  The rescissions were ordered to help close an FY10 budget gap, estimated at $380 million to more than $600 million. 

Meanwhile, the Office of Policy and Management is taking steps to stretch the remaining HOMEConnecticut funds until new resources are found.  About half of HOMEConnecticut's original $4 million appropriation remains and OPM is taking three steps to stretch the remaining funds:

• It secured a change in the statute during the special session this fall that allows it to give towns zoning incentive payments of "up to" $2,000 per unit allowed in an Incentive Housing Zone. Previously, the statute required a $2,000 per unit payment, but OPM wanted flexibility to offer less if the prospect of housing creation was not as certain.
  
  
• After providing an initial 35 applicants with planning grants of up to $50,000, OPM is providing an additional 15 towns with planning grants of up to $20,000. It will seek to share with those towns the work of other towns in hope they can benefit from generic portions of their planning work.
  
  
• It is considering new guidelines for payment of incentive funds and use of additional state grants and bond money to help towns seeking to create housing in IHZs.

OPM has said it will work with other state agencies - principally the Department of Economic and Community Development, the CT Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority - to seek federal funds that may become available to support housing-transit-environmental projects, including HOMEConnecticut.