What Is Connecticut’s 8-30g Affordable Housing Law?

Connecticut’s 8-30g affordable housing law, codified at Connecticut General Statutes § 8-30g, lets developers of qualifying affordable housing projects appeal local zoning denials directly to Superior Court, where the municipality — not the developer — must justify the decision. Enacted in 1989, the statute applies in any Connecticut town where less than 10% of the housing stock counts as affordable under state criteria.¹ In those non-exempt towns, a denial that would normally survive judicial review can be overturned unless the town meets a demanding three-part test.

Which Towns the Law Applies To

A municipality falls under 8-30g unless at least 10% of its housing units qualify as affordable. The Connecticut Department of Housing calculates the figure annually by counting government-assisted units, homes where tenants use rental assistance certificates, properties with active mortgages from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority or the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and units restricted by deed to low- and moderate-income residents.¹ Mobile manufactured homes and legally approved accessory apartments count as well, so long as they carry deed restrictions limiting occupancy to income-qualified households.²

The Department publishes an updated Affordable Housing Appeals List each year, typically around February 1.³ The 2025 list identifies 31 exempt municipalities, ranging from Hartford at 42.26% to Berlin at 10.14%. Every other town in the state remains subject to the appeals procedure.⁴

One technical point affects the math: accessory apartments built or permitted after January 1, 2022, that lack deed restrictions are excluded from the total dwelling-unit count used to compute the percentage. That prevents towns from diluting their affordable ratio by adding unrestricted accessory units to the denominator.⁵

What Qualifies as a Set-Aside Development

Only a “set-aside development” triggers the statute’s appeal protections. At least 30% of the dwelling units in the project must be restricted by deed to remain affordable for a minimum of 40 years after initial occupancy. Within that restricted portion, the units split into two income tiers:⁶

At least 15% of all units must be reserved for households earning 60% or less of the area or state median income, whichever is lower.
The remaining deed-restricted units, another 15% of the total, must serve households earning 80% or less of the median income.

Residents in both tiers pay no more than 30% of their annual income toward housing costs, and the deed restrictions run with the property for the full four decades.⁵

Set-aside developments are not exempt from local zoning. The local commission still reviews the application under its existing regulations. What changes is the standard that governs any denial. A refusal based on inconsistency with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development, zoning rules, density limits, building height, neighborhood character, or generalized traffic and school-capacity concerns will not survive an 8-30g appeal without more.

The Affordability Plan the Developer Must Submit

Every 8-30g application must include an affordability plan with five minimum components:⁵

The person, entity, or agency responsible for administering the plan and ensuring compliance with income limits and price restrictions for the full affordability period.
A fair housing marketing plan covering all units, including outreach to groups least likely to apply.
Sample maximum rents or sale prices for the affordable units, derived from the applicable median income data.
A description of when and where the affordable units will be built within the development and when they will be offered for occupancy.
Draft deed restrictions, covenants, lease provisions, or zoning conditions that will govern the affordable units going forward.

The Commissioner of Housing may adopt additional regulations expanding these requirements, including formulas for maximum rents and sale prices, rules for matching family size to bedroom counts, and standards for computing household income.⁵ Developers also need the standard site plans, environmental assessments, and infrastructure reports covering sewage, water, and drainage that any zoning application would require. Thin documentation on those technical points gives commissions easier grounds for denial.

What Happens When a Town Denies the Project

If a local commission denies an affordable housing application, or approves it with conditions that make the project financially unworkable, the developer can appeal to the Superior Court for the judicial district where the property sits.³ The appeal must be filed within the deadline set by the applicable land-use appeal statute, sections 8-8, 8-9, 8-28, or 8-30a, depending on which type of commission acted.⁶

The burden of proof flips. In a standard zoning appeal, the applicant must show the commission acted improperly. Under 8-30g, the municipality must sustain its denial by proving all three prongs of a demanding test:

The denial was necessary to protect a substantial public interest in health, safety, or another matter the municipality may legally consider.
That public interest clearly outweighs the need for affordable housing in the community.
The public interest cannot be protected by reasonable changes to the proposed development.

All three prongs must be proven on evidence from the record of the local hearing.³ The third prong is the one that defeats most denials. Even a legitimate concern, such as an inadequate septic system or a dangerous intersection, has to be weighed against modifications that could resolve it. If a smaller footprint, redesigned access road, or reduced unit count would address the problem, a blanket denial fails.

These appeals are treated as privileged cases and receive expedited treatment on the court’s docket. A judge reviews the hearing record and either upholds the denial or orders the commission to approve the application, potentially with conditions consistent with the court’s findings.

How Towns Can Earn a Temporary Pause

A town below the 10% threshold can earn a four-year moratorium from the appeals process by producing enough new affordable housing to accumulate housing unit-equivalent (HUE) points. The threshold is the greater of 2% of the town’s total dwelling units or 75 points. Larger municipalities with 20,000 or more dwelling units that have previously earned a moratorium and adopted an affordable housing plan under § 8-30j face a lower threshold of 1.5%, and their subsequent moratoriums last five years.⁵

Not every affordable unit earns the same points. The system rewards deeper affordability and favors rental housing over ownership units. No points are awarded unless occupancy is restricted to households at or below 80% of median income.⁵

To start a moratorium, the municipality applies in writing to the Commissioner of Housing, documenting every unit counted, the points assigned, and the statutory basis for those points. The Commissioner has 90 days to approve or reject the application and must publish the decision with a written explanation. If the Commissioner fails to act within 90 days, the application is deemed provisionally approved, and the town triggers the moratorium by publishing notice in a local newspaper of general circulation.⁵

A moratorium is not a complete shield. Certain applications can still invoke the appeals procedure during one: assisted housing where 95% or more of the units are restricted to households at or below 60% of median income, other assisted-housing applications containing 40 or fewer units, and any application filed before the moratorium took effect.⁵

Recent Changes to the Law

The legislature has amended 8-30g several times since 1989, with substantive changes taking effect in 2024. Public Act 24-143 did two things. Affordable units completed before a moratorium began but not counted toward that moratorium can now be banked toward a future moratorium, which prevents towns from losing credit for housing built in the gap between moratoria. And middle housing units developed as-of-right under § 8-2s became eligible for one-quarter HUE point each, reflecting the state’s push to allow duplexes, triplexes, and similar housing types by right in residential zones.⁵

An earlier amendment, Public Act 21-29, created the January 1, 2022, accessory apartment rule that excludes certain unrestricted accessory apartments from the dwelling-unit count used to calculate a town’s affordable-housing percentage.⁵

1
Connecticut General Assembly. Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure
2
Connecticut eRegulations. Connecticut Regulations Title 8 – 8-30g-2 Promulgation of List of Municipalities Exempt from Section 8-30g
3
Connecticut State Department of Housing. Affordable Housing Appeals Listing
4
Connecticut Department of Housing. 2025 Affordable Housing Appeals List
5
Justia. Connecticut Code 8-30g – Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure
6
Connecticut General Assembly. Connecticut General Statutes 8-30g – Affordable Housing Land Use Appeals Procedure