Expand Just Cause Eviction Protections

Leaders from Connecticut’s tenant movement including 44 organizations, and the co-chairs of the state legislature's Housing Committee Sen. Martha Marx and Rep. Antonio Felipe, launched a campaign to expand Just Cause eviction protection at a Capitol press conference. The message was clear: we want Just Cause now. 

Speakers described their experiences, data on the state’s housing crisis, the potential impact of Just Cause on mitigating that crisis, the content of this year’s bill, and the political conditions shaping the campaign. 

Just Cause requires landlords to provide a justification for an eviction — grounds for which are listed in state law — and protects tenants without a lease or who are month-to-month from being asked to move out or evicted for no reason. 

For over 40 years, Connecticut has had Just Cause eviction protections for tenants who are 62 and over or who are disabled and live in complexes with five or more units. However, most renters are not covered, and landlords can refusing to renew a lease or file an eviction without justification, even if the tenant pays rent on time and does everything “right.”

The existing law has provided greater housing stability for the most vulnerable populations, and tenants are asking the state to expand those protections. 

The problems facing tenants in Connecticut are dire: over 15,759 Connecticut households have been evicted without cause between 2017 and 2024.  One in 20 renter households now face eviction, and Connecticut has some of the highest eviction rates in the country, disproportionately impacting Black and Latino tenants.

Expanding Just Cause would prevent an estimated 11% of eviction filings and countless forced moves. Just Cause does not impact other for-cause grounds for eviction including, for example, nonpayment of rent, lease violations, or nuisance. Just Cause protects tenants from landlords who use no-fault evictions to gentrify complexes — eroding existing affordable housing — or to intimidate, retaliate, or discriminate against tenants. It is a cost-free, effective solution to help create safe, stable, and affordable housing by preventing displacement and housing insecurity, said the coalition.

'Health Justice NOW' Demand Amid Federal Cuts

The Health Justice NOW Campaign held a press conference calling on the State Legislature and Governor to protect health coverage, extend access to affordable care, and ensure all Connecticut residents can get the quality car they need without fear or barriers.

The statewide organizations said they came together “as federal cuts to Medicaid have harmed immigrant and working-class families, stripping health coverage from thousands and driving up health care costs for everyone.” 

Led by Connecticut Citizen Action Group, Universal Health Care Foundation of CT, HUSKY 4 Immigrants coalition, Health Equity Solutions, and Connecticut for All, the campaign demanded state leaders “step up and ensure every one of us has access to quality, affordable health care.”

Demands include that premium and other out of pocket costs meet affordability standards, controlled provider rates, minimizing the risk of medical debt, insurance coverage of essential health benefits, and raising revenue to support these goals.

Tom Swan, CCAG director said the campaign is “dedicated to having Connecticut meet this moment and guarantee everyone access to quality affordable healthcare.” He emphasized that Trump's HR 1 bill “has created turmoil with more havoc to come. Medicare cuts alone put over 180,000 Connecticut residents at risk of losing coverage.”

He added that, “thousands of healthcare workers could potentially lose their jobs and healthcare facilities are at risk of closure particularly in rural communities.”

Betty Buras, a student at the Yale School of Medicine and the law clinic said, “During this political climate, immigrants’ rights and health care are being attacked. When people don’t have access to healthcare, there are worse outcomes. We have to make sure everyone has access to healthcare.”

“The amount of Medicare taxes undocumented immigrants pay is more than the top 55 corporations in America,” said State Senator Saud Anwar,”. The corporations are getting a free ride while the undocumented immigrants are being taxed.”

“The federal government is subsidizing the healthcare for these largest corporations,” he said. Those who say resources have been taken by the immigrants is far from the truth. They are wrong.”

Connecticut Tenants Union launches boycott of real estate giant

By Louis Henry

The Connecticut Tenants Union and its working-class allies have launched a boycott of Alpha Capital. In a petition to support the boycott, the Tenants Union is calling on all people to refuse to engage in business with Alpha Capital.  Refuse to rent apartments, refuse to buy condos, refuse to sell or buy properties with this horrible landlord, they say. 

Over the last year, tenant unions in Southeast Connecticut have gone public, demanding that their landlord, Alpha Capital Funds, come to the table to negotiate fair leases and address tenant needs.  In response, Alpha is trying to bust organized, multi-racial, and multi-generational communities.

Tenant Union representatives from New London and East Lyme assembled alongside their working-class allies to announce the boycott and to explain why this next stage of struggle is necessary. 

Landlord wants $318,000 from each tenant

The Bay Point Tenant Union called on all people to boycott Alpha Capital because that landlord won’t recognize their union, and their homes are at risk of being bought out from under them.

Tonya, a disabled member of the Bay Point Tenant Union, explained that after her tenant union went public over the summer, Alpha Capital responded by trying to convert the apartments to condominiums.  Alpha Capital told the residents they would have to pay $318,000 to keep their home, or their unit would be sold off.

Chris, an 82-year-old member of the Bay Point Tenant Union, said he is cold at night because the building is in disrepair and Alpha won’t make repairs. 

Judy, a retiree who’s lived in the building for 23 years, told the assembly that “We’re not going to put up with it, we’re being gouged.” She said her union is going to stick together and fight until Alpha Capital CEO Tyler Smith comes to the table to negotiate fair and equitable leases.

The New London Tenant Unions called on all people to boycott Alpha Capital because that landlord will not recognize their union and will not stop trying to evict union members. 

Daz, speaking on behalf of the New London tenants, explained that the union was able to protect their members from eviction.  When Alpha Capital bought their building, the new landlord immediately sent eviction notices to all of the tenants—half of whom are elderly and disabled.  The tenants quickly mobilized to form a union and asserted Connecticut’s law that shields the elderly and disabled from no-fault eviction. 

In response to organizing, Alpha violated state law by retaliating against the union members with a demand for 40% rent increases.  Again, the union mobilized and filed complaints with the New London Fair Rent Commission.  The Fair Rent Commission asserted that tenant organizing is a protected act and Alpha Capital violated the law by retaliating.  The Commission ordered rents frozen for the next six months and ordered Alpha to give the tenants new leases.

Community support

Rev. Perry of Mount Olive Church in New London explained that his community is in crisis.  The temperature was below freezing, and children and seniors were homeless and suffering on our streets.  He said it was important for all moral people to support housing as a human right and to put people before profit.

New London City Councilwoman Shineika Fareus explained that the eviction and homelessness crisis in Connecticut is not an accident.  She said mega-landlords like Alpha Capital are violating our human rights by treating housing as a commodity.

Commenting on Alpha’s behavior, she said, “Eviction is not a development tool, it’s displacement.”  She said working-class power exists. She called on working people to join the boycott and that collective bargaining is a form of racial and disability justice.

State Representative Nick Gauthier spoke in solidarity with the Connecticut Tenants Union and joining the boycott against Alpha Capital.  He said private equity firms harm humanity.  He called for a ban on private equity in housing and healthcare.

State Representative Dan Gaiewski also spoke in support of joining the boycott and supporting the Union.  He said it was his job to support tenant organizing by passing Just Cause legislation that would protect all tenants from arbitrary eviction.

In her closing remarks, CT Tenants Union President Hannah Srajer held up ten feet of paper bearing hundreds of signatures of people who have already signed the petition to Boycott Alpha Capital.  She spoke into the cameras and said for the last six years the CT Tenants Union has been organizing to put people before corporate greed.  

“We pay the bills,” she said, explaining that Alpha Capital needs working people to pay their rents, to buy their condos, to do business with their company, in order to continue to service their predatory loans and mortgages.  If working people can put a dent in Alpha Capital’s income, they can bring Alpha Capital to its knees.  “The people will win, the boycott has begun!”  

‘Stand Up For CT’ Agenda Launched

Union and community leaders and elected officials joined with Connecticut for All at a capitol press conference to launch the “Stand Up CT” agenda as the Legislative Session begins. Action is urgent, they said, to help fill the critical funding gaps brought on by cuts in H.R. 1 President Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’, and to protect the freedoms of multi-racial working class and immigrant residents.

The agenda would require the small number of ultra wealthy residents and corporations, who have received more than $1 trillion in tax breaks through H.R. 1, to pay a comparable share of their income in taxes as that paid by the vast majority of Connecticut families.

The “Stand Up CT” agenda would re-balance the state’s upside-down tax system, protect against Trump cuts and policies, and allow the legislature to mitigate harms to the publicly-funded safety net, providing stability for working families. The package of bills will raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually.

Connecticut for All was joined by impacted speakers from SEIU 4Cs, CT Tenants Union, CT Students for a Dream, SEIU 1199, AFT Connecticut, She Leads Justice, Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance, a small business owner, State Rep Jason Doucette from the Tax Equity Caucus of 52 legislators, and State Senator Gary Winfield chair of the Judiciary Committee,.

“The choice really is simple. We can either meet the needs of working Connecticut families, or we can continue to leave money on the table by refusing to fix the fiscal controls and make the ultra-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.,” said Connecticut For All Director Norma Martinez HoSang.

“Passing the Stand Up CT legislative agenda means finally prioritizing the hardworking people of Connecticut who keep this state running – the health care workers who kept us safe throughout the pandemic, the teachers who pay for school supplies out of their own pockets, the bus drivers who take us where we need to go, the youth who need a chance for a better future they can afford – over a handful of wealthy and well-connected families.” 

CT Must Offset Federal Cuts to Public Benefits

Connecticut Voices for Children's new report, The Case and Policy Options for Connecticut to Offset New Federal Cuts to Public Benefits, was released to a crowded room of advocates and organizers at the 25th Tax & Budget Forum.

The report examined how the state’s fiscal controls and tax structure are hurting working class families by limiting sustained, meaningful investments in human needs. The report emphasized how Connecticut can move from temporary fixes to long-term policy choices that make affordability real and fully fund communities being devastated by the MAGA “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” enacted last July.

This Act provides tax cuts that heavily benefit high-income households. Those with incomes above $500,000 a year are estimated to receive 33% of the total tax cut, amounting to $1.5 trillion over the next decade.

The law pays for the tax cuts for high-income households by making about $1.5 trillion in cuts to public benefits, reducing essential support for low- and middle-income households. This includes nearly $1.1 trillion in cuts to health care benefits, including Medicaid; allowing a more than $300 billion expansion of the Premium Tax Credit for health insurance to expire; and cutting food assistance by about $190 billion.

At least150,000 people in Connecticut are expected to lose health insurance and 58,000 households are expected to have food assistance cut. At the same time, the top 10% of households are estimated to gain more than $9,200 each.

The report presented five policy proposals that would make it possible to address these extreme and devastating inequities including raising tax rates on high-income households (single tax filers above $500,000, and married tax filers above $1 million) or high-value estates (worth more than $15 million).

Together, the policy proposals would raise close to $500 million a year, providing resources for Connecticut to close the gap left by the cruel federal cuts to human needs.

Advocates are demanding that in these dire circumstances the Legislature and Governor stand up for the people of Connecticut in this session and make sure that basic needs are funded to address health care, housing, hunger and growing poverty.