Fairfield County Nonprofit Looks To Evaluate Transit Areas For Housing

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. – Citi Community Development has provided a $30,000 grant that could lead to new transit-oriented housing development along Fairfield County’s Metro-North Railroad corridor for low- and moderate-income residents.

Ross Burkhardt, president and chief executive officer of New Neighborhoods, Inc., discusses plans for developing affordable housing close to transportation and jobs, with Lily Lopez, Connecticut director of Citi Community Development.
Photo Credit: *Courtesy of NNI*

by The Daily Voice

07/31/2013 5:00 a.m.

The grant money was issued to New Neighborhoods Inc., based in Stamford, to evaluate sites along the New Haven Line. After 30 locations were deemed promising for potential housing development in 2012, four of the most prime spots were selected for further evaluation, said a press release from New Neighborhoods.

“We are grateful to Citi not only for financial support but for its ongoing advocacy of affordable housing as a driver of economically healthy and vibrant communities,” Ross Burkhardt, president and chief executive officer of the company, said in a statement.

Transit-oriented development helps sustain economic development in neighborhoods where residents can thrive, according to Lily Lopez, director of Citi Community Development in Connecticut.

“It’s important that we support affordable housing efforts in Fairfield County, one of the most expensive housing markets in the entire country,” she said in a statement.

New Neighborhoods, Inc. is one of Fairfield County’s oldest active nonprofit housing developers. It has developed nearly 600 units of affordable housing since 1967 – of which, 425 rental units were on 10 properties in Stamford, Danbury and Norwalk, the organization’s website said.

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