Connecticut statutes regulating public housing authorities ensure that government housing subsidies reinforce segregation.

Since 1949, Connecticut law has provided that the “area of operation” for a public housing authority is the municipality where it is located (Conn. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 8-39). A municipal housing authority’s areas of operation can only include neighboring communities if “the governing body of such neighboring municipality agrees by proper resolution” to allow the extension of authority. If the Bridgeport Housing Authority, for example, wants to give a client a housing choice voucher she can use it not just in largely Black and Latino Bridgeport, but over the border in Fairfield or Stratford, and those largely white communities have to vote to allow it. As you can imagine, this doesn’t happen often. In fact, the only partnerships between municipal housing authorities are between overwhelmingly white communities.