Connecticut’s legislature is currently considering several bills that look to streamline the building permit process (e.g., SB 896). However, new home construction has stalled in Connecticut and across the country. Are Connecticut’s low numbers for new home permits in 2011 an indication of the bad winter, as some speculate, or that the economic recovery has stalled? According to a March 24, 2011, Norwich Bulletin article, “new home permits fell 41 percent, to 105 in February from 179 a year earlier, according to statistics released by the state Department of Economic and Community Development,” and this February number “… is the lowest since the 92 posted in January 2009, during the heart of the Great Recession.”
Nationally, NPR reported on March 16, 2011, of the new housing slow down, “[b]uilding permits, an indicator of future construction, fell 8.1 percent to the lowest level on records dating back to 1960.” Perhaps April showers will also bring brighter economic news….
