New London ― The Center for Housing Equity and Opportunity (CHEO) is researching who makes housing decisions in southeastern Connecticut.

And who doesn’t.

It recently found 41 vacant positions on commissions that make housing decisions. Those include planning & zoning, affordable housing, zoning and city planning commissions.

Those positions are “critical” for making housing decisions and accurately representing the diversity of communities, said CHEO director Beth Sabilia.

The region lacks thousands of units of affordable housing, and housing in general is in short supply, due in part to the tremendous growth at Electric Boat.

“How much work is not happening in these towns because of lack of capacity?” said Sabilia last week. “With this limit of capacity comes limits of perspective,” she said.

Ninety percent of the towns in southeastern Connecticut have vacancies on these boards and commissions, she said.

The town with the most vacancies is North Stonington. It has five vacancies: two on the Planning and Zoning Commission and three on the Affordable Housing Committee.

North Stonington

North Stonington’s volunteers shy away from the Planning and Zoning Commission because it’s the “most intimidating” commission to volunteer for, said First Selectman Bob Carlson.

He added there’s a false perception that volunteers need background knowledge on engineering, zoning laws, and land use.

“It’s a tougher board to get people involved in,” Carlson said. “It’s not as fun as a commission like economics where you can see the new businesses coming into town.”

Many of the town’s Affordable Housing Committee members left their positions to work with the town’s affordable housing non-profit, Keeping North Stonington Affordable, Carlson said.

“The Affordable Housing Committee has taken a step back,” Carlson said. “I don’t think they feel the pressure since the non-profit is working so hard on it.”

Carlson also noted that each board needs an equal number of Democrat and Republican members, and volunteers are steered to other boards if they throw off the party balance of a commission.

Currently there is one Republican vacancy and one Democrat vacancy on the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission. North Stonington also doesn’t have a town planner at the moment, Carlson added.

Although there are vacancies, Carlson said the number of town committee volunteers fluctuates in “waves,” but he expects the committees to be in “good shape” by the November election. He said vacancies are not unusual for small towns like North Stonington.

“In small municipalities like us, there always seems to be an opening somewhere on boards, commissions, and in town halls,” he said.

CHEO’s research of vacancies in towns like North Stonington is part of its larger effort to gather data on the housing decision-makers in New London, Tolland, and Windham counties.

The main goal is ensuring that the decision-makers accurately represent the people of their towns and to educate the public on ways they can be involved in housing decisions, Sabilia said.

“There’s an opportunity for more participation and progress through these vacancies,” Sabilia said.

She said releasing data on committee vacancies is the first step to achieving these goals.