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Record of Proceedings

CHESS Committee Meeting - July 21, 2026: Consideration of Affordable Housing Allocations for Pacific House and Charter Oak Communities

Board of Representatives — Tuesday, July 21, 2026
BodyStamford, Connecticut
SessionBoard of Representatives
DateTuesday, July 21, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 17:46

Original source
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0:00

All right.

0:01

I'm gonna call the meeting at 631.

0:05

Welcome.

0:06

Uh chess committee meeting.

0:08

And Angie, would you mind taking a roll call for me, please?

0:12

Sure.

0:13

Representative Goldberg.

0:15

Good evening.

0:16

I'm here.

0:17

Representative Gross.

0:22

Gross is present.

0:23

Okay.

0:24

Representative McEwen.

0:26

Present.

0:27

Representative Polak Palak.

0:31

Sorry.

0:31

I'm here.

0:32

Representative Price.

0:34

Present.

0:36

Representative Sivestri.

0:38

Present.

0:41

I'm letting Kendria over now.

0:43

Hold on.

0:49

Okay.

0:49

Representative Walston.

0:53

Present.

0:55

Okay, Representative Weirs.

0:57

Present.

0:59

And Representative Yeager.

1:02

I don't see him.

1:05

No.

1:05

He is excused if he's not here.

1:08

Okay.

1:08

All right.

1:10

All right.

1:12

Welcome everyone.

1:13

We have two, I think, wonderful items on our committee tonight.

1:18

Can I have a motion for item number one?

1:21

It's a rejection item, chest 32.019.

1:25

Uh allocation of 500,000 to Pacific House Inc.

1:28

to facilitate the development of 15 units of affordable housing at 66 Stillwater Avenue.

1:35

So move.

1:37

Second.

1:38

We have a motion and a second.

1:40

And uh would you, Ralph or Emily, like to introduce the item and take the floor?

1:47

Uh sure, I'm happy to.

1:49

So uh this item is um or let me start this way.

1:55

The Affordable Housing Trust Fund Um approved $500,000 for Pacific House for a project that's located at 66 Stillwater Avenue.

2:06

Um it's for uh 15 uh new deeply affordable units.

2:11

So about half the units, seven units are uh for people making between uh zero and 30 percent of the area median income, and the rest is for uh people who are making below 50 percent um of the area median income.

2:29

Um so uh this is actually uh a second um appropriation to Pacific House for this project.

2:39

Um they received, I believe it was in 2022, 750,000, or let me put it, it was allocated.

2:47

They haven't received any money yet.

2:49

It has not been dispersed.

2:51

Um but uh they have asked for uh another um uh $500,000.

3:00

And uh as they explained, uh this is necessarily uh in in to cover increased construction costs, as you all know with um uh prices going up.

3:12

Uh construction costs has been going up uh significantly since the pandemic.

3:18

Um but there's also uh changes in the federal policy that are affecting their work.

3:24

Um so uh that's why they have asked um for um another uh $500,000.

3:32

Um overall for the overall project cost, this is still um a relatively small uh proportion um of uh the total cost.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Affordable Housing█████████████████████████████████████████████68%
Procedural█████████████19%
Housing█████████13%
Summary of Proceedings

CHESS Committee Meeting - July 21, 2026

The CHESS Committee met on Tuesday, July 21, 2026 at 6:31 p.m. in the Democratic Caucus Room and via Zoom. Co-Chairs Maureen Pollack and Stephanie Sylvestre presided, with members Reps. Goldberg, Gross, McKeown, Price, Walston, Wirz, and Yaeger present. The committee considered two items proposing to reject allocations from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund; both rejections failed unanimously, thereby approving the funds.

Discussion Items

  • CHESS32.019: Rejection of $500,000 to Pacific House, Inc. for 15 units of affordable housing at 66 Stillwater Avenue. Land Use Bureau Chief Ralph Blessing explained that the project previously received a $750,000 allocation. Additional funds are needed due to increased construction costs and changes in federal policy. The units will be deeply affordable: seven units for households earning 0-30% of area median income, the rest under 50%. Total project cost is approximately $10 million. Committee members expressed support; Rep. Gross clarified the voting procedure (vote "no" on rejection to approve). The motion to reject failed 0-9-0.
  • CHESS32.020: Rejection of $150,000 to Charter Oak Communities for security deposits for up to 60 new Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) recipient households. Blessing and Housing Director Emily Gordon explained that Section 8 vouchers cover rent but not security deposits. Charter Oak contributed $100,000; returned deposits can be reused. This is the Trust Fund's first programmatic (non-brick-and-mortar) allocation. Rep. Wirz noted that typical security deposits are two months' rent, making this assistance critical. Rep. Gross confirmed the federal government does not provide deposit assistance. The motion to reject failed 0-9-0.

Key Outcomes

  • Both rejection motions (CHESS32.019 and CHESS32.020) failed by identical votes of 0-9-0, meaning the $500,000 and $150,000 allocations are approved.
  • The meeting adjourned at 6:48 p.m.

Meeting Transcript

All right. I'm gonna call the meeting at 631. Welcome. Uh chess committee meeting. And Angie, would you mind taking a roll call for me, please? Sure. Representative Goldberg. Good evening. I'm here. Representative Gross. Gross is present. Okay. Representative McEwen. Present. Representative Polak Palak. Sorry. I'm here. Representative Price. Present. Representative Sivestri. Present. I'm letting Kendria over now. Hold on. Okay. Representative Walston. Present. Okay, Representative Weirs. Present. And Representative Yeager. I don't see him. No. He is excused if he's not here. Okay. All right. All right. Welcome everyone. We have two, I think, wonderful items on our committee tonight. Can I have a motion for item number one? It's a rejection item, chest 32.019. Uh allocation of 500,000 to Pacific House Inc. to facilitate the development of 15 units of affordable housing at 66 Stillwater Avenue. So move. Second. We have a motion and a second. And uh would you, Ralph or Emily, like to introduce the item and take the floor? Uh sure, I'm happy to. So uh this item is um or let me start this way. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund Um approved $500,000 for Pacific House for a project that's located at 66 Stillwater Avenue. Um it's for uh 15 uh new deeply affordable units. So about half the units, seven units are uh for people making between uh zero and 30 percent of the area median income, and the rest is for uh people who are making below 50 percent um of the area median income.

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