This report was released in December 2020. From the Introduction / About the Report page (page 4):

The Connecticut Department of Housing, together with Regional Plan Association and partners across the state, have worked together to create this guidebook to help municipalities develop their local affordable housing plans, as required by state statute § 8-30j.

While § 8-30j requires all towns to create an affordable housing plan by spring 2022, it doesn’t specify what should be included, leaving many local communities with questions, like:

• What exactly is an affordable housing plan and what should be included?
• How does this plan fit in with my town’s other planning documents, like our Plan of Conservation and Development?
• How do we create a plan for affordable housing when it can be such a hot button issue in our town?

This guidebook focuses on answering these important questions on the process for creating the plan, not just to comply with § 8-30j, but to help towns make the most of the opportunity to come together to plan for housing affordability. The high cost of housing in Connecticut is well known and commonly accepted as the tradeoff for the amenities our state offers. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Connecticut can be a great place to live and provide housing options for people at all levels of income. Planning for more affordable homes is an important first step in changing the common narrative of opposition and creating space for productive community conversations around affordability.

Rather than an obstacle to be surmounted, the planning process is a chance to bring people together, connecting affordable homes to community values like equity and diversity. Through the process, local leaders and residents can build a shared understanding of how homes that meet the needs of current and future residents can improve the overall health and economic vitality of their towns by creating space for a variety of housing that meets the needs of people of different ages and incomes. This guidebook provides a framework for engaging communities in the planning process and recommendations for creating specific elements of the plan, including how to:

• Design and carry out a community engagement and communications strategy;
• Conduct a housing needs assessment;
• Evaluate local land use and zoning to identify barriers to affordable housing development;
• Understand the role of local and regional housing market conditions in financing affordable housing development;
• Create a Community Values Statement;
• Develop plan principles, goals, and actions; and
• Apply best practices to implement the plan.

Although one size doesn’t fit all, the set of strategies and tools provided in this guidebook are intended to serve as a synthesized set of resources that make it easier for towns to successfully plan for more affordability.

From the report introduction:

“This report, [prepared for CT Office of Health Strategy], accompanies the release of the Connecticut Self-Sufficiency Standard for 2019. It offers detailed data and analysis to help shape policies in Connecticut that support families. These data are also the building blocks of a new Connecticut HealthCare Affordability Standard that will be released in 2020.”

“The report addresses several questions:

• How many individuals and families in Connecticut are working, yet are unable to meet their basic needs?
• Where do people with inadequate income live and what are the characteristics of their households?
• What are the education and employment patterns among those with inadequate income?

We find that Connecticut families struggling to make ends meet are neither a small nor a marginal group, but rather represent a substantial proportion of the state. Those struggling to make ends meet in Connecticut include individuals and married couples with children, households in which adults work full time, and people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds.”

Click on the “Document” link below or click here to download the full PDF. See the main survey page for more information.

These crosstabs contain data collected through the 2020 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey COVID-19 Response Wave’s live, in-depth interviews with 1,108 individuals statewide. The survey assessed topics such as health, employment, and COVID-19 response and impact. Respondents spanned a broad range of ages, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, and town types, and all results are based on weighting survey data to be representative of the entire adult population (see methodology).

Version information: Version 1 including press release and crosstabs document posted here 9/16/2020.

Towards Health Equity in Connecticut: The Role of Social Inequality and the Impact of COVID-19, is a comprehensive new report that summarizes five broad social determinants of health and discusses how various groups of people are affected by their opportunities in each category. Each section begins with general comparisons of many groups across several indicators, and ends with an example of how those social circumstances relate to a specific health outcome. Throughout, the report also discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the social forces that influence health and well-being.

In 2018 and 2019, the Greater Waterbury Health Partnership (GWHP) assessment examined indicators related to health behaviors, chronic health conditions, and social factors.  This 2020 report is an executive summary of the full assessment, which makes extensive use of many data resources from DataHaven and other sources, including the DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey and CDC 500 Cities program.

The findings are used to help prioritize public health issues and develop a unified community health improvement plan throughout the region. Partners in GWHP include Staywell Health center, local health districts in the Greater Waterbury area, the City of Waterbury, Waterbury Health, Trinity Health of New England, the United Way of Greater Waterbury, and the Connecticut Community Foundation.

Click on the “Document” link below to download the full PDF. See the main survey page for more information.

These crosstabs contain data collected through the 2018 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey’s live, in-depth interviews with 16,043 randomly-selected individuals statewide including 225 in New Milford, CT. These crosstabs focus on results from one geographic area; results for other areas are available via the main survey page. The survey assessed topics such as health, employment, and neighborhood resources. Respondents spanned a broad range of ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses from every Connecticut zip code, and all results are based on weighting survey data to be representative of the entire adult population (see methodology).

Version information: Initial version with coversheet posted here 12/31/2019.

Click on the “Document” link below to download the full PDF. See the main survey page for more information.

These crosstabs contain data collected through the 2018 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey’s live, in-depth interviews with 16,043 randomly-selected individuals statewide including 230 in Stratford, CT. These crosstabs focus on results from one geographic area; results for other areas are available via the main survey page. The survey assessed topics such as health, employment, and neighborhood resources. Respondents spanned a broad range of ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses from every Connecticut zip code, and all results are based on weighting survey data to be representative of the entire adult population (see methodology).

Version information: Initial version with coversheet posted here 12/31/2019.

Click on the “Document” link below to download the full PDF. See the main survey page for more information.

These crosstabs contain data collected through the 2018 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey’s live, in-depth interviews with 16,043 randomly-selected individuals statewide including 266 in West Haven, CT. These crosstabs focus on results from one geographic area; results for other areas are available via the main survey page. The survey assessed topics such as health, employment, and neighborhood resources. Respondents spanned a broad range of ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses from every Connecticut zip code, and all results are based on weighting survey data to be representative of the entire adult population (see methodology).

Version information: Initial version with coversheet posted here 12/31/2019.

Click on the “Document” link below to download the full PDF. See the main survey page for more information.

These crosstabs contain data collected through the 2018 DataHaven Community Wellbeing Survey’s live, in-depth interviews with 16,043 randomly-selected individuals statewide including 270 in Milford, CT. These crosstabs focus on results from one geographic area; results for other areas are available via the main survey page. The survey assessed topics such as health, employment, and neighborhood resources. Respondents spanned a broad range of ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic statuses from every Connecticut zip code, and all results are based on weighting survey data to be representative of the entire adult population (see methodology).

Version information: Initial version with coversheet posted here 12/31/2019.

See the main report page for more information.