Connecticut developer fee brought in $8M for affordable housing — but fewer affordable homes are being built

A new report from the city of Stamford, Connecticut's Principal Housing Planner, reveals that while the city has earned over $8 million for affordable housing from developers paying into a trust fund, more of them are opting to pay into the fund, leading to a drop in permits for new affordable housing units. As Robert Marchant explains in the Stamford Advocate, this could mean a slowdown in affordable units actually coming online. 

The report states that "Much fewer affordable units were approved to be built onsite in 2025 than in the year before" as more developers use the fee-in-lieu option. "Following approvals by the Zoning Board last year, $8.5 million was due to be paid into the Stamford affordable-housing trust fund. Only 12 on-site affordable units were due to be built, the board was told, following the approvals granted in 2025." According to Emily Gordon, the Principal Housing Planner, the trust fund is doing what it was expected to do, and is bringing in higher levels of revenue; but "We still would like to see the on-site units being built as well."