In the three years since its inception, Connecticut Tenants Union has established 17 local chapters and pushed for the passage of several laws expanding renter’s rights.
“The tenant union itself has been an incredible vehicle for giving people a voice and a seat at lots of different tables that they were previously excluded from,” Luke Melonakos-Harrison, Connecticut Tenants Union Vice President said.
Tenants unions have helped renters statewide by getting towns to establish fair rent commissions. Tenants unions have also pushed state lawmakers to pass bills making it easier for renters facing eviction to secure legal aid.
This legislative session, the union will revisit a bill eliminating “no fault” and retaliatory evictions.
Connecticut’s “Just Cause” eviction law protects residents who are at least 62-years-old or have a disability, and live in a building with five or more units, from groundless evictions.
If these tenants are compliant they cannot be evicted without a legal reason. Advocates say the law should be expanded to at least include all tenants of larger apartment buildings of five or more units, regardless of age or disability.
“We're trying to close the loophole so that it's a little bit safer for more and more tenants to get organized and get involved in the movement,” Melonakos-Harrison said.
Tenants unions are beneficial in addressing the housing crisis by giving renters the power to ensure fair rent increases and a healthy living environment, among other issues, according to Lori-Lynn Ross, vice president of the Parkside Village II tenants union in Branford, where she’s lived for 15 years.
“As much as we all live in fear and anxiety, there's a sense of security and hope that the tenant union has brought about that has never been present,” Ross said.
Ross and Melonakos-Harrison were panelists in a recent discussion, hosted by the Center for Housing Opportunity’s Fairfield County Talks Housing series. The panelists spoke on the rise, need and impact of tenants unions, and how they can be beneficial for all renters in Connecticut.
“The tenant union is the solution to having housing security that will also change people and change families and change the dynamic,” Ross said.
