Connecticut Tenants Union Formalizes Structure

The fight to hold corporate landlords accountable for rent hikes and repairs got hotter this week as the Connecticut Tenant Union formalized its organization by electing officers and a constitution.

The Connecticut Tenants Union (CTTU) says that it “brings together tenants, tenant unions, and tenant associations from across the state who are organizing collectively to demand stronger rights for tenants; an end to displacement, landlord harassment, and eviction; and democratic control of our housing.”

Tenant union organizing began two years ago in Connecticut, with organizations now present in nine cities and towns. In New Haven, the Board of Alders voted that tenant unions can be officially recognized by the city's fair rent commission in structures with ten units or more, giving tenants the right to file complaints collectively.

During the pandemic housing costs shot up exponentially. When pandemic protections against evictions were lifted, the number of evictions and the number of unhoused also shot up, disproportionately affecting people with low incomes, people of color, seniors and families with children.

A well organized campaign for legislation limiting the amount that a landlord can increase rent in one year to four percent failed to make it out of committee in this year's session of the state legislature as the power and profit-motive of real estate interests out weighed the testimonies of hundreds of tenants and support from a majority in the state according to polls.

However, legislation requiring municipalities of 25,000 or more to establish fair rent commissions was enacted. A majority of cases brought before these commissions have won relief and been successful in prohibiting exorbitant rent increases by landlords and stemming evictions.

Tenant unions increase the power of renters to challenge landlords' extreme rent hikes and refusal to fix needed repairs by filing complaints en mass, and holding rent strikes as a last resort. As well, the formalized organization will allow tenants to lobby as one body in hopes of shifting the balance against corporate landlords at the state legislature.

Hannah Strajer, who was elected president of the Connecticut Tenant Union, told the media, “The core basic principle is that people should be able to have stability in their housing, they should be able to afford where they live, not give crazy percentages of their income to their rent and they should have continuity in their community.” The CTTU can be contacted at CTtenantsunion@gmail.com