Closing Gaps in the Housing Ecosystem
In order to build affordable homes quickly and cost-effectively, many people and organizations within the housing ecosystem must work together, including housing developers, lenders, housing authorities, municipal officials, and community members. This is especially true in Fairfield County, CT which must contend with high construction costs and frequent local opposition to affordable housing.
Yet there are few formal channels for all these groups to coordinate. Challenges arise that no one group or company can fix alone. Solutions may work for one part of the housing ecosystem while creating unintended consequences for another part of the system. As a result, the groups responsible for producing new homes lack clarity, while residents don’t get the homes they need.
With support from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) CT and the Housing Collective partnered to bring Fairfield County developers, lenders, and housing authorities together for the first time to identify specific gaps in the housing ecosystem, and pilot a program to address those gaps.
LISC CT and The Housing Collective hosted a roundtable for housing authorities, developers, and lenders at Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT (August 2025)
The project partners hosted four roundtable discussions with groups of key stakeholders individually before bringing everyone together for a final session at Fairfield University to debrief and identify areas of overlap. Afterwards, the project partners synthesized the findings to identify three key barriers to affordable housing development in the region.
- Streamlining
- Project Financing
- Education & Community Engagement
“When different stakeholders in the housing ecosystem all talk to one another, we identify a systems-level understanding of challenges and solutions that no one organization can identify on their own.”
By aligning stakeholders, LISC CT and the Housing Collective were able to advance a systems-level understanding of housing in Fairfield County, and identify specific tactics to address common issues that are holding housing back. Now, the project partners are developing a pilot program to address one of the three key barriers identified through the roundtables.
“During these housing roundtables, you could see ideas taking shape in real time. Together, we developed some key insights that will help drive meaningful action to advance affordable housing across Fairfield County.”
LISCT CT and the Housing Collective are partners within the Fairfield County Center for Housing Opportunity, which brings together practitioners, policy makers, residents, community organizations and partners across sectors to achieve a housing future for the region where every household has access to a safe and affordable home.
in partnership with
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LISC Connecticut
Since coming to Connecticut in 1984, LISC has invested more than $94 million in grants and loans. LISC works in cities including Bridgeport, Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, and Waterbury, helping local organizations develop affordable housing and create partnerships that strengthen neighborhoods by enhancing resident quality of life, expanding economic opportunity, and closing racial wealth, health, and opportunity gaps.
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Bank of America
