Tenants take on Landlord Lobby by Organizing a Union

 

Connecticut's housing crisis is driving homelessness and demands immediate action. Yet legislation that could have made a difference did not get voted on during this session of the State Legislature. As tenants strategize they are continuing to organize and build more power to counter the influential landlord lobby and win housing stability.

The campaign to expand just cause eviction protections to all renters took hold at the grass roots with hundreds of letters and testimonies, rallies and events. These protections, already law for individuals with disabilities and those over 65, would prevent no-cause evictions at the end of a lease.

Megalandlords, especially since the pandemic, have been buying properties, evicting long term tenants, and raising the rents for new tenants in cities across the state.

Connecticut ranks tenth in the country for least affordable housing. Four of the state's five largest cities are on the list of top 100 metro areas with the highest eviction rates. At least 68% of Connecticut renters spend more than half of their monthly income on rent.

“I think it became very clear to us not only this session but last session that the default orientation of many and perhaps most in the legislature is towards the interests of the few who own the property,” tenants union leader Luke Melonakos-Harrison told the media. “For the many who don’t own property but are just trying to have a stable place to live, it’s an incredibly uphill battle to get those concerns heard.”

This year landlords,claiming their rights are being taken away, formed a super PAC, Property Owners Defense League, that does not have to disclose funding sources. They are raising money to run candidates in this November's elections for the legislature.

In response tenants are joining together in collective action with the Connecticut Tenants Union.

“The very same week that our legislators failed to act on Just Cause, three more tenant unions brought their megalandlord to the bargaining table to negotiate for repairs, stable rents, and secure tenure,” they said.

“We never expected our fight for tenant power, justice, and freedom to rise or fall at the Capitol. We know our liberation will come from us: building power, strength, and unity through collective action, through tenant unions that fight and win, through a mass movement of working class people fighting for ourselves and our future “ the tenant union concluded.