Affordable Housing Group Seeks Land

KENT —Kent Affordable Housing (KAH), armed with a new town law that makes it easier for landowners to subdivide their property, is mounting a fresh public relations campaign,with notices in church bulletins, the selectmen’s newsletter, and local papers.

"It’s a good opportunity for a landowner to cut a piece of land, get a tax deduction or sell it to us," said the group’s president, Bob Levine. "Not necessarily the people with big estates — I’m thinking of someone with 25 acres, who can now cut off a piece for affordable housing and still subdivide."

Approved by voters at the annual town meeting on Jan. 18, the new ordinance allows a landowner to subdivide an additional piece of land without going through subdivision hearings — provided that the new parcel is used by a non-profit or the town for affordable housing. The previous law allowed one "free cut," for whatever purpose.

Kent Affordable Housing is pitching what it calls a "Parcel Program," open to Kent residents with incomes below the median for Litchfield County.

Successful applicants build their own homes on land owned by the nonprofit, substantially reducing a family’s cost of building and owning a home from more than $300,000 to less than $200,000.

Restrictions on reselling a Parcel Program home are designed to make it affordable to a future owner when the current owner is ready to sell.

There is one Parcel Program home in Kent and five families on the waiting list for a parcel.

For more information about the Parcel Program, or to obtain an application form, mail a business-size self-addressed envelope to KAH, P.O. 265, Kent, CT 06757.

Landowners interested in donating or selling a parcel should call Bob Levine at 860-927-4245 or Bill Bachrach at 860-927-3321.

— Patrick L. Sullivan

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