Canaan Parish Update

With the recent coverage of the challenges of finding and building affordable housing in Connecticut’s suburbs (e.g. https://ctmirror.org/2020/01/09/separated-by-design-how-wealthy-towns-keep-people-with-housing-vouchers-out/ or https://ctmirror.org/2019/11/25/separated-by-design-why-affordable-housing-is-built-in-areas-with-high-crime-few-jobs-and-struggling-schools/) it’s worth taking a moment to describe a project we are directing in New Canaaan, CT that runs against the grain.

Canaan Parish is an existing, 60-unit Section 8 property in affluent New Canaan, CT built in 1979. I have some personal history with it. When I was a toddler my mother used to drop me off there with a babysitter while she taught in New Canaan schools.

Canaan Parish today

The apartments are small, dated and not accessible to people with handicaps. Furthermore, we and the Housing Authority of New Canaan saw an opportunity to create more affordable housing on the 5-acre site.

We are planning to begin construction this year on a complete re-build of Canaan Parish. Through a complex phasing plan, most of the existing residents will remain on-site during construction and will move into the first new apartment building sometime in 2021. Then we will demolish the existing apartments and add 40 affordable apartments in a second building. Over the predevelopment period I have met with the existing tenants over a dozen times and received survey results from over half of the residents describing their wishes for the new buildings. Thankfully, we have been able to accommodate them.

Canaan Parish phasing plan

The new apartments will be spacious, modern, light-filled, and on par with New Canaan’s market-rate rental housing. The current driveway, located near a busy signaled intersection, will be relocated to a safer location. And best of all the new site design will allow for a one-acre landscaped courtyard and playground. Despite all of the land there is nowhere for children to play in the current apartment layout.

Canaan Parish site plan

Rendering of the new Canaan Parish apartment buildings

We are looking forward to closing on a complex financing plan, consisting of a renewal of the Section 8 contract, 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credit financing, an FHA 221(d)4 new construction loan, and sponsor financing. Additionally, the Town of New Canaan has supported the project with the creation of a new zone to allow the apartments and a 40-year tax abatement agreement. The anticipated closing / construction start is May, 2020 and the construction will continue for almost two years.