Affordable housing is slowly on the rise across the state, but housing costs remain a larger issue for many Connecticut residents.

The amount of affordable housing, which includes governmentally assisted units, tenant rental assistance, deed-restricted units and government-insured mortgage programs, has risen from 159,520 units in 2011 to 186,170 units in 2025, or about 16.7%.

The number of affordable housing units rose by more than 21,000 from 2016 to 2025. Government-assisted housing accounts for over 40% of this increase, adding more than 8,500 units since 2016.

Under current law, builders can sue towns that deny affordable housing proposals if less than 10% of the town’s housing is deemed affordable. The only exceptions to this rule are denials due to a health or safety concern, but towns are able to earn temporary breaks from the law in some circumstances if they prove they are working toward more affordable housing.

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Recommendations to adjust 8-30g, the affordable housing law, surfaced last week in a yearly report from the Majority Leader’s Roundtable on Affordable Housing.

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The report recommended changes to the way the law weighs affordable housing and town progress towards that 10% mark.

Most towns in the state fall under this 10% threshold, and affordable housing remains a need in the state, according to recent reports. Half of Connecticut’s renters pay more than a third of their income in housing costs, and 1 in 4 renters put more than half their pay toward housing costs, according to a report from the Partnership for Strong Communities.

Sasha Allen is a data reporting fellow with The Connecticut Mirror.