Letter to the Editor: State Rep Calls for More Housing Options for the Future and Now

To the Editor:

We often hear concerns about young people leaving Connecticut. As a teacher, I have watched generations of students graduate, and I believe we are asking the wrong question.

The question is not why so many young people leave. The question is why we make it so difficult for them to stay.

Many young adults would like to build their lives here. They want to live near their families, work in their communities, and raise their children in Connecticut. Yet they face rising housing costs, expensive childcare, student debt, and transportation challenges that make opportunity harder to access.

At the same time, many seniors are facing a different version of the same problem. After spending decades in the communities they helped build, many find there are too few housing options that allow them to downsize and remain close to family, friends, and the services they rely on.

What frustrates me is that we spend a great deal of time complaining about these challenges while resisting many of the solutions. If we refuse to build housing, we should not be surprised when rents and home prices rise. When housing becomes scarce, young families struggle to get started, and seniors struggle to remain in the communities they call home.

Doing nothing is not a neutral choice. Every year we delay addressing these issues, costs keep rising.

State Rep. Nick Menapace, D-East Lyme, Representing East Lyme and portions of Salem and Montville