KENT, Conn.—Mortgage payments, combined with associated housing expenses in Kent, consume about $63,000 a year on average, according to an updated demographics report.
The report, “Crossroads: Where We Are Now and Where We Are Headed,” is issued by the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation.
The report was originally developed in 2017 and is updated to reflect changes through 2024.
The median income for all residents in the tiny town is $96,577, so, on average, housing costs are 65 percent of income. The figure includes mortgage principal and interest, property taxes, home and mortgage insurance, down payments, closing costs, and utilities.
For decades, Kent has attracted second homeowners, and million-dollar sale prices are the norm. For these households, with substantially higher incomes, the cost is less burdensome, but some 120 households—more than one quarter of the 480 properties carrying mortgages—earn less than $75,000 a year.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines housing affordability as being no more than 30 percent of gross income, including utilities. Anything more than that is considered to be “housing burden.” For the lower-income homeowners, the annual housing cost should be no more than $22,500.
The report was prepared by Susan and David Carroll of Words & Numbers, Inc.
“It can be a little confusing,” said Susan Carroll, “but David included all the things that contribute to housing costs to give a more realistic look at it.”
The report indicates that Kent saw an increase in median home values of $222,917 between 2017 and 2023, up 65 percent. Over that time, the annual cost of mortgage payments and associated housing costs increased $30,540 per year. On average, monthly mortgage and utilities payment increased $2,465.
These factors are important because they indicate the extent people wishing to locate in a given town can afford to do so, according to David Carroll. Generally, younger families find it difficult to find starter homes in the region as housing costs continue climb.
It is a situation all too familiar to town leaders and businesspeople in the community. “It’s a huge problem for people wanting to get a start in town,” said Kent Affordable Housing (KAH) President Justin Potter. “It’s very, very difficult.”
A check of homes and land for sale in Kent showed 17 possibilities, only one below $1 million. The market topped out at $8 million for two of the estates, with the least expensive home, a two-unit, 2,117-square-foot property, at $549,000.
KAH attempts to counter the problem with continuing development of affordable housing units.
Potter said a design is currently being developed for an extension of its South Commons complex, adding 13 more units, the “sweet spot” for the 1.15-acre lot. The design, commissioned from Schadler Selnau Associates, is “fairly far along,” according to Potter.
He said it needs approval from the Inland Wetlands Commission and the Planning and Zoning before KAH can begin the “development engagement process” with the state Department of Housing.
“We’re lucky our funding is coming from the state and not the federal government,” he observed, although he said that disruption in Washington, D.C., could affect state resources. “But right now, I don’t see a problem,” he concluded.
KAH has already developed 37 affordable units in town. The 13 new units, construction of which could begin in 2026, would boost the affordable units to 50. This would represent about 5 percent of the town’s housing stock, only half of the 10 percent affordable housing level mandated by the state.
Leaders in smaller Litchfield County towns believe the 10 percent goal for affordable housing goal to be unrealistic and at present no Northwest Connecticut town has reached it.
In Salisbury, 1.59 percent of the houses are deemed affordable; in Falls Village, 1.56 percent; Sharon, 2.03 percent; Cornwall, 3.59 percent, and Kent, 3.79 percent. Canaan, which has more industry than the other towns, shows a figure of 7.59 percent.
Kent Housing Associates, a separated entity from KAH, is planning to create a large housing complex on land between Kent Town Hall and Kent Barns, a portion of which will be dedicated to affordable housing.
“That’s definitely a good thing,” said Potter. “The property was purchased by a Kent resident and his focus is a little different, but there are so many seniors who are looking to downsize.”
As desirable as affordable rents might be, state statute 8-30g allows largely unregulated development in towns where less than 10 percent of the housing stock is affordable.
Developers can designate 30 percent of their proposed dwelling units as affordable and circumvent most local zoning regulations. This statute is being used by developers in larger towns, including New Milford.
At present, only 3.79 percent of Kent’s dwelling units are designated as affordable, leaving it open to 8-30g. But Potter has sent the Board of Selectmen a letter advising them that, when a town has more than 2 percent affordable housing or 75 Housing Unit Equivalent Points, it is eligible to invoke a four-year 8-30g moratorium. Kent has 77 HUEP.
“Of course, once the points are used for a moratorium, they are gone, so they should be used strategically,” Potter said in his letter.
The difficulty in finding housing feeds other data found in the 2024 “Crossroads” report.
With fewer families able to live in the region, the Carrolls report that Northwest Connecticut’s birth rates have remained consistently low since 2014, indeed, one of the lowest in Connecticut.
From 2014 through 2021, the average live birth rate (the number of live births per 1,000 persons) for the 20 towns in the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation was 7.4, an average of 770 births per year during that eight-year period.
The population of school-age children (ages 5 to 19) dropped precipitously from 2015 to 2021. While consistent with demographic projections, the number was greater than anticipated, the Carrolls said, decreasing by1,239 children, or 7 percent.
The greatest losses were in Litchfield (down 30 percent or 459 fewer children), Kent (down 46 percent or 270 fewer kids), Goshen (minus 20 percent or 104 children) and Winchester (11 percent or 162 fewer children).
Conversely, the senior segment of the population expanded exponentially. By this year, the total 65-plus population is expected to reach 24,937 individuals, 24 percent (4,775) more than in 2015, increasing the demand for human services.
Between 2015 and 2021 the number of people aged 65 to 79 increased by 23 percent, or 3,337 persons, in the 20 towns covered by the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation. The study data was collected a year ago, but the number was expected to increase another 10 percent by 2025.
Another 9 percent, or 1,700 persons in this age cohort, are expected to be living in the 20 towns this year.
The 80-plus age segment remained stable from 2015 until 2021 in most NCCF towns, but Kent proved an exception where there were 51 percent more octogenarians (114 persons) in 2021.
