Malloy presents biggest public housing proposal in years

New Britain, Conn. (WTNH) - The Malloy administration proposed the biggest increase in state funding for public and affordable housing in decades on Wednesday.

Malloy proposed $30 million for public housing revitalization, $20 million for affordable housing, and $12.5 million for elderly congregate housing.

Read the affordable housing initiatives here

The last time the state of Connecticut opened 1,000 public housing slots there were 50,000 applications.

It's estimated that there are approximately 100,000 public housing units in the state, but many are in disrepair because there is not enough of an income stream to maintain them. It's not unusual for families to be spending 50 percent of their income keeping a roof over their heads.

Sixty-nine-year-old Addie Keith considers herself lucky; she spends just 30 percent of her monthly income living at Pinacle Heights in New Britain. She's president of the residents' council there and is very much aware of the bind many of her neighbors experience.

"That's why you have a lot of homeless people, you know, you lose your job, you lose your apartment, you lose your car, if you have one,” said Keith. “Some of them don't have one and just...you're on the street."

It is estimated that family homelessness went up 15 percent last year. Keith and her husband raised four kids in New Britain but she says, the public at large needs to know, that for younger people, in this economy, it's becoming increasingly difficult.

"That's really hard for people and I would just like for them to know there's a lot of nice, decent people here,” said Keith, “and they have families, children growing up and it would be so great to have a decent place to live." 

It's taken nine years, but Malloy now has a plan in the works to rebuild some of the public housing where more than half the units are boarded up.

The governor projects that this will help to create a minimum, over the next 10 years, of 6,000 construction jobs.