Enviro Research Seeks Renter Power

Tenants pay more for less energy-efficient housing — and too often can’t reach the government assistance programs designed to help.

Those were two of the major takeaways from a Tenant Energy Advocacy (TEA) Project research presentation and discussion that took place Tuesday night in the community program room at the Wilson Branch Library at 303 Washington Ave.

Energy-efficient housing reduces unnecessary energy usage, therefore mitigating the home’s environmental impact and cutting costs. The concept relies on technologies such as sufficient insulation, which helps to alleviate the electrical burden of heating and cooling, and LED lightbulbs that consume less energy.

Tenants, sustainability interns, and community organizers gathered Tuesday at the Hill public library to hear and reflect on the data collected by TEA Project lead investigator, Annie Harper, and her team.

The research, funded by the Yale Planetary Solutions Project, aims to analyze low-income tenants’ access to energy efficient utilities, through which it works to galvanize the community into collective action for energy justice. The study was guided by the following questions:

• What is the experience of energy insecurity among low-income renters in New Haven?

• What have been their experiences with home energy efficiency upgrades, and what is their perception of the association between energy burden and efficiency?

• Have they had any experience with collective tenant action?

• What might motivate/support them to work collectively with other tenants to push for landlords to install energy efficient upgrades in their homes?

Roughly 30 people attended Harper’s presentation of her research, from which emerged an evident trend: tenants are expected to pay more for less energy-efficient housing. ​“What we’ve realized is that landlords are eager to collect rent, but are nowhere to be found when it comes to fixing urgent issues within the rented space,” said Harper.

After conducting six focus groups with 41 New Haven residents and two groups with five landlords, Harper and her team identified a common trend of tenants using unconventional measures to reduce their energy bills. She noted that many tenants are not granted access to their thermostat, leaving them to plastic wrap their windows or insert towels under their doors in order to regulate the temperature of their homes.

One attendee attested to Harper’s findings, citing a neighbor who brought home her newborn child in December only to swaddle him in several blankets due to a lack of heating.

Another tenant recalled a similar situation in which mold had been discovered in the wall, which her landlord used as leverage as to why it was unsafe to implement a heating system to warm her family through the winter. Instead, the landlord charged the tenant for the preexisting mold.

“Low-income tenants have employed energy-efficient tactics of reducing their utility bill for years, but often never realize that there are simple technologies that yield the same result,” explained Harper.

The study also revealed that the federal assistance programs that enable tenants to introduce energy-efficient technology into their home are often obscured by landlords or are simply inaccessible to those who cannot afford to print out the required physical application.

However, TEA has a solution. ​“Collective action unites people through shared struggles, and encourages them to find strength in their number to tackle issues that are greater than any one person,” said Alix Rachman, Harper’s research assistant.

Following the presentation, Peter Fousek, an organizer with the Connecticut Tenants Union, read an excerpt of the group’s newly drafted constitution to demonstrate the power of collective action. ​“The Union recognizes its duty to build a diverse organization where people of all races, genders, and cultural backgrounds participate equally and receive effective representation at every level of governance; and to overcome imbalances in access, power, and privilege,” he read.

His recitation was met with high praise by attendees on Tuesday, and fueled smaller group discussions to close the event. Participants shared anecdotes and their current solutions to high energy bills, from opening windows during summer months to relying on natural light during the daytime. Fousek even rallied members of his group to join him in a march for further transparency between tenants and landlords.

“What about those of us who are afraid to stand up to our landlords? What if we don’t know how?” asked Bridgett Williamson, a vocal member of the discussion.

Fousek replied, ​“Landlords have a lot of money, and they have a lot of power. Tenants have less money, but when we come together, our power is insurmountable.”