New Haven, CT Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Connecticut PA 21-29, signed by Governor Lamont on June 10, 2021, was the most consequential statewide zoning-reform law in Connecticut in decades. Section 7 (codified at CGS Section 8-1c) requires every zoning commission to permit one ADU as-of-right on each lot containing a single-family dwelling, subject to objective standards (size, height, setbacks, parking) that the commission may adopt but that may not include owner-occupancy of either unit, family-relationship restrictions, or minimum lot-size requirements above the underlying zone. The municipality could opt out of the as-of-right ADU provision (and remain free to adopt its own ADU framework, including owner-occupancy) only by a two-thirds vote of its legislative body within a window that closed January 1, 2023. The New Haven Board of Alders did not opt out, consistent with the city's broader pro-housing posture (the 2022 elimination of parking minimums citywide, expanded by-right two- and three-family use across most residential districts, and the city's participation in the state's Affordable Housing Appeals Procedure under CGS Section 8-30g). The New Haven Zoning Ordinance accessory-use provisions do not impose owner-occupancy. Practical implication: a New Haven investor, a Yale faculty member whose principal home is elsewhere, an heir who has inherited a property, or an out-of-state owner can lawfully construct an ADU and rent both the principal dwelling and the ADU to unrelated tenants, subject to New Haven's housing code inspection program (administered through the Livable City Initiative, LCI) and the Connecticut Landlord-Tenant Act (CGS Chapter 830). Private covenants and condominium declarations under CGS Chapter 825 (Common Interest Ownership Act) — most relevant for downtown New Haven condos and some East Rock and Wooster Square buildings — may still impose owner-occupancy enforceable through declaration-based fines and Superior Court litigation.