Impact

Center for Housing Opportunity Impact Report 2025

Created By

Each of our three regional Centers for Housing Opportunity are cross-sector partnerships comprised of local partners in planning, lending, philanthropy, community development, and academia. These partners collaborate to deliver education, community advocacy support, and technical assistance to advance housing solutions designed to meet the specific needs of their regions.

Our regional teams provide support to municipalities, non-profit developers, service providers, local resident groups, tenant unions and other partners. We align regional funding, data, and resources to help communities plan for their future, and host public programming to help residents better understand housing challenges and solutions. We believe that housing is fundamental for thriving, healthy, economically viable communities, and everyone should be able to access a safe, affordable place to live.

Mission

The Centers for Housing Opportunity (CHO) bring together cross-sector partners to produce, preserve, and protect housing in Fairfield County, Litchfield County, and Eastern Connecticut. CHO is a program of The Housing Collective and LISC CT.

Introduction

Throughout 2025, the Housing Collective’s Centers for Housing Opportunity (CHO) continued to advance data-driven, regional housing solutions in Fairfield County, Litchfield County, and Eastern Connecticut’s New London, Tolland, and Windham Counties. While housing dominated the conversation this year at the state level in Hartford, our teams doubled down on our efforts to strengthen housing systems at the local and regional level.

From helping tenants fight unfair rent hikes, to supporting grassroots, pro-housing groups, and drawing attention to the lack of representation on local land use boards, in 2025 we focused on helping residents actively participate in the processes that shape housing in their communities. Through these efforts, we helped keep residents in their homes, supported local groups in engaging on housing in their own communities, and earned a 2025 Pearlman Freedom of Information Award from the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government.

We also continued to provide technical assistance, training, and capacity support for our local partners including nonprofit housing developers, community organizations and municipalities. We helped grow the number of affordable housing units in the development pipeline, and convened stakeholders to identify where slowdowns are occurring at the state and local level. In deep collaboration with partners like banks, lenders, housing developers, and resident leaders, we continue to identify and bridge gaps in the housing ecosystem in the regions where we work.

Connecticut Foundation for Open Government Pearlman Award 2025 edited

Staff from the Centers for Housing Opportunity accept a Connecticut Foundation for Open Government Mitchell W. Pearlman Freedom of Information Award, October 2025.

Impact

Making “Room at the Table”

Our team published research revealing 20% of seats on land use boards in Fairfield and New London Counties are vacant or filled by members serving expired terms, and women, renters, and non-white residents are notably underrepresented on boards. The report earned a CT Foundation for Open Government award and 17 broadcast and print news stories, and has led to new collaborations with the UConn Center for Land Use Education & Research and the Fairfield University Center for Social Impact to expand participation in the local land use process.

Read the report >

Supporting Community Organizing

Our team is supporting grassroots groups in communities across CT working on housing issues and connecting these groups statewide as part of a “Housing for All” network. In partnership with the Connecticut for All Justice Fund and the All In Alliances, The network is supporting residents with training and technical assistance in organizing, community engagement, strategic communications, and more.

Learn more >

Delivering Affordable Homeownership Opportunities

The Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity coordinated a new program to build 10 new affordable single-family homes in five towns in partnership with the CT Department of Housing, Capital for Change, and local nonprofits in Salisbury, Cornwall, Norfolk, and Washington. Buyers will be first-time homeowners who earn incomes below the area average, chosen through a fair lottery system. The first home was purchased by a daycare worker in the local town.

Watch the video >

Affordable Home Ownership Build 001 00 00 31 07 Still004 SM

The Litchfield County Center for Housing Opportunity has been building a new pipeline for affordable homeownership opportunities in Northwest Connecticut.

Supporting Tenant Organizing

The Center for Housing Opportunity Eastern Connecticut supported tenants in East Lyme and New London as they unionized to fight unfair rent increases and evictions. These tenant unions have blocked nearly 40 evictions and prevented or negotiated dozens of rent increases, while winning support from local and state political leaders and earning broadcast and print news coverage. In partnership with the CT Tenants Union, we coordinated rallies, provided advocacy materials, and helped tenants navigate their Fair Rent Commissions, earn media attention, and more.

Read the coverage >

Beth Beth Sabilia New London Tenant Rally Dana Jensen The Day

Beth Sabilia, Director of the Center of Housing Opportunity Eastern Connecticut, rallies with members of local tenant unions in New London. (Photo Credit: Dana Jensen - The Day)

Changing the Narrative

Our regional Centers for Housing Opportunity continued to host public programming and share data and stories to change the narrative around housing affordability and build public will for solutions. These efforts included conversations at Connecticut College and Eastern CT State University connecting housing to related issues like education, health, and economic development; fact sheets for Fairfield and New London Counties that show the relationship between jobs, income, and housing options; and webinars with the CT Housing Finance Authority to provide new data on housing opportunity.

Providing Technical Assistance

In Litchfield County we continued providing direct project management support for nearly 200 units in the development pipeline across 14 projects by local nonprofit developers. In Eastern Connecticut, we provided assistance with a Community Development Block Grant grant to support nonprofit-driven housing development. And in partnership with the CT Department of Housing, we supported municipal leaders in Fairfield County in their efforts to advance housing solutions.

By the Numbers: Measurable Impact

Tracking Progress, Driving Results, and Expanding Housing Opportunities

777 new housing units supported
35 public events hosted
91 briefs, reports, and fact sheets produced
22 panels & presentations delivered
1,900+ residents engaged at events & convenings
27 towns received technical assistance
50 weekly calendars of local land use meetings distributed
72 media hits earned
1 CT Foundation for Open Government award received

Fairfield County Talks Housing August 2025 WEB

The Fairfield County Center for Housing Opportunity hosted a “Fairfield County Talks Housing” conversation with the CT General Assembly Majority Leaders in August 2025.

Looking Ahead: Advancing Housing Solutions in 2026

Expanding Impact, Strengthening Partnerships, and Driving Change

Support Grassroots Groups

The Centers for Housing Opportunity will continue to provide organizing, engagement, communications, and technical support to grassroots pro-housing groups in partnership with CT for All Justice Fund through the Housing for All Network. This will help residents shape the future of housing in their own communities, and contribute to a more unified pro-housing movement across Connecticut.

Develop Resource Hub

The Centers for Housing Opportunity will expand our online hub as a go-to resource for technical assistance, best practices, data, peer-to-peer learning, and more. The Resource Hub will be designed to be accessible and intuitive to a range of stakeholders with different levels of experience and expertise with housing.

Share Housing Stories

Our team will compile multimedia stories from community members who have experienced housing insecurity firsthand. We will share these stories across owned and earned media as part of our ongoing efforts to change the narrative around housing affordability and build public will for solutions.

Focus on Preservation

We will advance a coordinated Affordable Housing Preservation Strategy to identify and protect at-risk subsidized homes before affordability is lost. With thousands of federally assisted units facing subsidy expiration in the coming years, preservation is an urgent systems priority. Leveraging CHO’s regional partnerships and statewide data, we prioritize vulnerable properties, align capital and policy tools, and coordinate stakeholders to extend long-term affordability, safeguard prior public investment, and prevent displacement of low-income residents.