Letter: Let’s Work Together on Housing Affordability in West Hartford
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To the Editor:
My congregation, Kehilat Chaverim.org, belongs to GHIAA along with 51 other churches, synagogues, and mosques in the Greater Hartford area. GHIAA was founded in 2019 and stands for Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance.
Join us in our work on Affordable Housing. There is no requirement that to work with me (Charlotte Gara); you have to have any faith or beliefs other than there must be more Affordable Housing available in West Hartford. We are all committed at GHIAA that anyone who wants to work to better our community is invited and encouraged to work with us. There is power in numbers.
We have a meeting for all volunteers scheduled for Nov. 21 at Weaver High School at 6:30 p.m. and we already have 1,000 volunteers attending.
Currently West Hartford has a goal that 10% of total rental housing in town be “Affordable Housing.” The former West Hartford Inn on Farmington Avenue (100% affordable housing) and the old Agudas Achim Synagogue on North Main Street and Simsbury Road (80% Affordable Housing) as well as the rebuilding of the apartments on Starkel Road are Affordable Housing currently under construction .
We all could to work together with the expertise that GHIAA community leaders bring to the table to make sure that future “Affordable Housing” is truly affordable by the lower class and lower middle class residents in town.
For Example, the one and two bedroom units proposed for the old University of Connecticut property now called Heritage Park are priced at:
- 1-bedroom: $2,000-$2,500
- 2-bedroom: $3,000-$3,500
The developer has committed that 8% of the units will be affordable housing. From our past dealings with these developers I believe that their idea of “affordable” and our idea of “affordable” are at different price points.
GHIAA has a great deal of experience working in this area. I think it would be to our benefit to work with the expertise that this community resource has developed since its founding in 2019 to achieve our Affordable Housing goal.
We need more expertise to break down the barriers that West Hartford has tactically and routinely proposed to limit Affordable Housing in our town. GHIAA has the expertise to help us build power in West Hartford to become part of an organized movement to increase Affordable Housing in West Hartford. Our mayor is under pressure from the State to reach the 10% Affordable Housing goal for West Hartford. We need to better understand what Town Manager Rick Ledwith’s definition of what threshold does and what does not constitute Affordable Housing.
GHIAA has two additional goals they are working on this year:
- Combating Religious and Racial Hate
- Connecticut Fiscal Investment Policy to Fund Essential Services
I invite you to please respond to my email if you are interested in working on Affordable Housing in West Hartford with me.
Thank you and Best Regards,
Charlotte Gara
[email protected]
