Renters Ramp Up Call For ​“Bailout Of Tenants”

If the government can bail out the airlines, if it can send billions of dollars in emergency aid to big and small businesses alike, then it can — and must — provide similar financial support for vulnerable tenants unable to pay rent.

Local advocates made that call for a ​“bailout for tenants” as they kicked off a campaign aimed at organizing renters amid the Covid-19 pandemic and taking action before the state’s eviction moratorium lifts in July.

The call came during an hour-and-15-minute virtual teach-in and call to action that was hosted Thursday night by CTCORE-Organize Now!, the New Haven Legal Assistance Association, and New Haven Tenant Power.

Roughly 45 people turned out to watch and write in questions via the Zoom online teleconferencing app. The meeting was also broadcast on Facebook Live.

“We need essentially a bailout of tenants to cover the rent that tenants are not going to be able to pay” because they’ve lost their jobs and have seen incomes plummet during this crisis, said NHLAA Director of Litigation Shelley White.

“We want to have stabilization. We don’t want to see people just entered into eviction proceedings” and tied up in court when the state’s eviction moratorium ends July 1.

New Haven Tenant Power leader and legal aid organizer Kerry Ellington (pictured) warned that, if tenants and advocates don’t start organizing and ramping up political pressure now in their calls for long-term renter protections and aid, ​“then we are going to see a level of displacement in our communities that we haven’t seen before.”

This city needed more affordable housing well before the start of the novel coronavirus outbreak, she said. ​“We desperately need deeply affordable housing now.”

Over the past two weeks, locally and nationwide, tenant advocates have stepped up their calls for increased renter protections during the coronavirus crisis.

Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar has introduced a bill in Congress that would cancel rent and mortgage payments for millions of Americans by having the federal government directly cover landlord losses. Earlier this week, the Party for Socialism and Liberation held nationwide car caravan protests— including outside New Haven’s City Hall—calling for rent cancellation. And groups like the National Low Income Housing Coalition have called for $100 billion in renter aid to be included in the next federal coronavirus relief bill.

“Just keep spreading the message about rent cancellation,” CTCORE Deputy Director Ashley Blount said Thursday night, ​“and what we need to do to ensure that we have our homes in this time of uncertainty.”

Renters Rights, As Of Now

The meeting came roughly a month-and-a-half after Gov. Ned Lamont first declared a public health emergency around Covid-19 on March 10 and the state judicial branch announced on March 12 that courts would be largely closed and only processing ​“Priority 1” matters, not including nearly all eviction cases, for the foreseeable future.

“March 10 seems like not a long time ago,” said NHLAA Deputy Director Elizabeth Rosenthal (pictured), ​“but a lot has happened in that time.”

Two of the key dates in that timeline are March 27 and April 10, she said. The former is when the president signed into law the federal CARES Act, which includes an eviction moratorium through July 25 for a variety of tenants, including those who receive federal housing support of some kind. And the latter is when the governor announced a suite of Connecticut-specific renter protections, including a statewide eviction moratorium through July 1 and grace periods for April and May rent.

As of right now, Rosenthal said, Connecticut renters are protected in the following ways:

• Per the governor’s April 10 order, landlords cannot serve new notices to quit, summonses, or complaints on any type of eviction matter except those related to ​“serious nuisances.” That moratorium on new evictions extends through July 1.

That means that, until July 1, landlords cannot seek to evict tenants for nonpayment of rent, lease violation, or lapse of time. They can only seek eviction for such ​“serious nuisance” concerns as threatened violence against a landlord, the sale of drugs, or the intentional destruction of property.

• That same April 10 executive order imposed a 60-day grace period for April rent. That means that tenants have until June 1 to pay their April rent.

The order also allowed for a 60-day extension for May rent, but only if a tenant first writes to their landlord and explains that they will not be paying rent on time because of a coronavirus-related loss of income or increased expenses.

Rosenthal said that tenants can send that message to landlords by text or email or print mail.

“Have proof that you sent out that letter,” she said. ​“You don’t have to ask your landlord for an extension, but you do have to tell” them that you will be taking advantage of the extension for a coronavirus-related reason.

Rosenthal said that, if a tenant pays April and May rent within the allowed grace periods, ​“then your landlord can’t evict you, can’t charge a late fee, can’t report you to a credit reporting agency for being delinquent.”

• That same April 10 state executive order allows tenants who have paid a security deposit worth more than one month’s rent to use the amount in excess of one month’s rent to help pay for April or May rent.

“You have to ask in writing,” Rosenthal said. ​“Your landlord can ask you to pay that money back towards the security deposit once the public health crisis is over.”

As of right now, she said, there is currently no grace period for June rent.

• And the federal CARES Act places a moratorium on new nonpayment of rent eviction cases through July 25 for anyone living in public housing or who uses a housing choice voucher, a project-based Section 8 subsidy, or any other kind of rental assistance through the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

This nonpayment of rent eviction moratorium also applies to anyone living in a home where the landlord has a federally backed mortgage, she said.

Rosenthal and White said that tenants can take a variety of actions if a landlord tries to file a new eviction before July 1, or tries to execute an existing eviction before June 1, or ​“locks out” a tenant by changing the locks or removing doors and windows or shutting off utilities as punishment for not paying rent before the end of the state-allowed grace periods.

They can call the police. They can call a legal aid organization for help. They can write directly to the state attorney general. They can file a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities.

“The laws about fair housing are definitely not suspended during the pandemic,” said White.

“Eviction By Zoom?”

The two legal aid lawyers also added that, while state housing courts are currently closed, there are still somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 pending eviction cases that have already been filed with the court system.

The governor has extended a moratorium on the execution of pending evictions through June 1. So, for anyone with a court judgment against them, they cannot actually be evicted before June 2.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen for people with pending cases,” Rosenthal said.

Will there be a glut of eviction hearings when the housing courts reopen? Will the courts even be safe to visit, considering how densely packed housing court usually is with tenants, landlords, mediators, lawyers, and other court personnel?

“Do we see landlords clamoring for eviction by telephone?” asked White. ​“Eviction by Zoom? We will be trying to fight that. We don’t think that constitutionally permissible. We think people need to be heard in court and seen in court in order to protect their legal rights.”

“We know that the courts are working towards reopening,” White continued. ​“We want to be sure that when the courts reopen, we don’t see massive evictions.”

What Happens Next?

While the current patchwork of state and federal orders and laws provide a modicum of short-term protections for renters, White and Ellington said, they have done little so far to help tenants who have lost their jobs or suffered other economic hardships during this public health crisis afford to pay rent.

They said the CARES Act’s one-time provision of $1,200 checks for low-income Americans simply won’t be enough for renters during the coming recession.

Ellington said it’s critical for tenant advocates to organize and strategize now to pressure the governor and legislators to ​“distribute rent relief funds to communities that need them most. But it’s also important that tenants know that, for people unable to pay the rent or pay it back, that that be forgiven.”

Rosenthal and White pointed to advocacy by the National Low Income Housing Coalition for $100 billion in renter aid to be included in the next federal coronavirus relief bill.

They called on renters to call government representatives at the municipal, state, and federal levels to advocate for funding for rental assistance, extended eviction moratoriums, and pauses to rent increases.

Blount said CTCORE has received through its mutual aid application forms over 200 requests from locals who need money for rental assistance.

“We have to reach out to our state officials and governor and let them know that we need more,” she said.

Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the $1,200 individual CARES Act payments are limited to those who have filed tax returns in the past two years. Click here to apply for a CARES Act payment if you have not filed a tax return in that time.

Click here for more information about the current state of renters rights in Connecticut during the pandemic.

Previous articles about political organizing during the pandemic. Series logo by Amanda Valaitis.

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