Hartford — Connecticut is a state that needs about 90,000 units of new housing based on the number of job vacancies, but many suburban and rural communities have been reluctant to build. On Thursday, Gov. Ned Lamont hoped to change all that as he swore in members of a new quasi-public state agency aimed at persuading local officials with hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives and expertise.

During the inaugural meeting of the board of directors of the Municipal Redevelopment Authority, which was created by the General Assembly as part of the state budget process in 2023, state and local officials joined members of the private sector in trying to kick-start efforts to expand housing opportunities that have been slow to progress, despite efforts of lawmakers including retiring state Sen. Marilyn Moore, D-Bridgeport, co-chairwoman of the Housing Committee.

"I'm hoping that this will be the beginning of doing something and that there is a place to go to to try to bring all those things together beyond a commission, beyond the round table that we did," Moore said Thursday after the authority's organizational meeting. "Instead of talk, maybe we'll get some action out of this."

Speaking to reporters after the 40-minute meeting, Lamont noted that various geographic areas are represented by the authority's board, which will be led by Chairperson Felix Reyes, New London's director of economic development and planning. "You see them at the table, right there," Lamont said. "We're saying I want you to take the lead on this and most of them are. I think you're seeing more housing being built right now than we've had in the last 15-plus years. We've got to keep that momentum going. Interest rates can be a little bit of a head wind."

David Kooris, president of the downtown business district in Stamford and volunteer director of the state Port Authority, was chosen as the executive director of the new authority, which goes by the acronym of MRDA. A former planning director for the city of Bridgeport, Kooris will be paid $240,000 annually for the job.

"If I had crafted a job that was designed for my interest and my expertise and what I've been doing over the last 20 years, I couldn't have crafted anything better than this position," Kooris told the board, which had gathered in a third-floor meeting room at the state Capitol building. "There are dozens and dozens of municipalities that want to grow, that want to provide new housing opportunities, that want to foster economic development and this authority is designed to help them realize how to do so. I really hope what the MRDA ultimately achieves is to provide that support structure that can be deployed to the willing municipalities, to help them achieve their objectives."

"I think David Kooris is the guy to help bring all these pieces together," Lamont said. "I cannot keep this economy growing and opportunity for everybody unless there's a place for people to live." The governor said that the attraction of $300 to $400 million in annual state support should act as a powerful incentive for transit-oriented development, combined with expanded water and sewer assistance and relief from state affordable housing laws that some towns complain are unreasonably weighted on the sides of developers.

"Show us your plan," Lamont said of local officials throughout Connecticut. "Just don't show us no plan."

During the meeting, Lamont said that since taking office in 2019, his administration has helped create more than 25,000 units, with another 5,000 units in the permitting process. "I'd like towns and municipalities to tell where they want that housing to go," he said. "Give us an idea of where the growth zones are. We're trying to speed up the process the best we can."

The 16-member board includes state commissioners, town planners, leaders of nonprofit agencies, business owners and Matt Brokman, the governor's chief of staff. Brokman called the board an "all star" cast of experts with the goal of becoming a "well-respected, impactful partner" in the effort to expand the state's housing base. "We'll hopefully facilitate quicker abilities for the state and the various agencies to engage with cities and towns and move contracts along," Brokman said, stressing the goal of helping communities to identify properties that can be developed for market-rate housing, including potential financing. "The hope is that this board can be nimble in its work."

Initial goals will be for board members, who will meet monthly, to reach out to towns and cities to participate in the voluntary program, which could require local changes in zoning ordinances that sometimes slow down development projects.