7 City-Built Homes Completed In Newhallville

City officials popped in on Newhallville Thursday to call attention to homes they’re building there.

Mayor Justin Elicker, City Plan Director Aicha Woods, and Livable City Initiative (LCI) Director Arlevia Samuel toured through one of nine affordable homes constructed by the city under phase one of aproject centered on Winchester Avenue and Thompson Street.

All the units have now sold to new on-site homeowners. Two families moved in; three are in the process of moving in; the other four have their houses under contract. (Click here to read a story about a familyi n the process of closing on the deal for one of the houses.) The officials Thursday offered no information was given about the two families that have moved in so far; they did not include families in the event.

The buildings are all two-family homes. The purchase price for the first family is set to be affordable as if it were a one-family home. Then the family can use the second home space as a rental property.

The city aims to boost affordable housing by removing barriers such as reducing minimum lot sizes, reducing parking requirements, and supporting ​“accessory dwelling units.” ​“Really what we’re trying to do is increase housing choices in all neighborhoods and start to undo and roll back some of the exclusionary zoning. That’s in place across the country but is being reconsidered at this time as its underlying many of the historic racial wealth gaps” Woods said.

Woods, meanwhile spoke of how the city is aiming to make more housing affordable by amending the zoning code to reduce minimum lot sizes, reduce parking requirements, and support +1 accessory dwelling units. (Click here to read about a tour Woods took this week with Hill neighbors skeptical about the changes.)

LCI’s Samuel projected that with federal, state, and city funding, 597 new affordable units in the subsidized affordable housing pipeline will be ready by 2023. The New Haven Housing Authority has over 800 units coming online soon as well.

Phase two of the Thompson/Winchester project will include sevenmore homes of 14 units. Samuel said the city plans to publicize phase two more across the city.

Samuel spoke about programs in place to ensure safe and clean housing for residents. These include LCI’s rental inspection program, emergency elderly repair program, and Energy Efficiency Rehabilitation Assistance Program (EERAP).

Half of the 48,000 households in New Haven are cost-burdened, meaning they spend over 30 percent of their income on housing, according to Elicker. An estimated 28 percent spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing.

“That’s money that people could be spending on a lot of other important things, saving some of that money, spending it on food and basic needs, spending it on things that can help people thrive in our community,” Elicker said.

LCI Project Manager Mark Wilson brought press in to check out one unit at 23 Thompson St. Wilson showed off the two bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, and dining room.

The building is equipped with central air conditioning and heating.

Six of the 11 contractors pulled for the project are minority-owned. Eight of the 11 are based in New Haven, East Haven, or Hamden. ​“In the beginning, I think a lot of local contractors were afraid it would be another project where they wouldn’t have an opportunity to participate, but we wanted to make sure they had an opportunity,” said Wilson.

While the pandemic slowed work down a bit, Wilson said the project remained fully on schedule. The first house was done in four months. Each following house was staggered and completed within the next month or two.

Wilson said they might make some layout changes to make the space more open for the houses in phase two. ​“There are some spots and little nooks that probably could’ve been better used,” he observed.