Proposed City Ordinance Would Recognize, Empower Tenants’ Unions

NEW HAVEN, CT —In what is described as the "first-of-its-kind legislation in Connecticut," the city unveiled a new proposed city ordinance that would officially recognize tenants’ unions. And, empower them to collectively assist and engage city government in seeking redress for tenants from bad-acting mega-landlords on issues such as excessive rent increases and substandard living conditions.

The announcement was made Friday by Mayor Justin Elicker and Wildaliz Bermudez, Executive Director of the City’s Fair Rent Commission, who were joined by tenants, advocates, and other officials at the Quinnipiac Gardens Apartments. The apartment complex is home to members of the Quinnipiac Gardens Tenant Union, the first tenant union in New Haven.

"Over the past several years we have been working to ensure access to more affordable, safe, and high-quality housing for New Haven residents. While many landlords work hard to provide high-quality housing for their tenants, there are some mega-landlords that create unacceptable living environments for their residents,” Elicker said. “This proposal will help support tenants organizing in a tenants' union and empower them to collectively engage the Fair Rent Commission in investigating and assisting with any complaints at a property to ensure fairness for all involved.”

While tenants’ unions are mentioned in Connecticut state statutes, they are not currently defined or discussed anywhere else in existing state law or in the City of New Haven Ordinances. This proposal would address this by:

• Recognizing the rights of tenants to organize tenants’ unions in the City of New Haven;

• Defining tenants’ unions to be an organization whose members consist of tenants living in a housing complex containing ten or more separate rental units and that share a common location and ownership and who have affirmatively agreed to enter into such an agreement. (Based on a preliminary estimate, this proposal would extend the option of joining tenants’ union to a minimum of 10,000 housing units within the City of New Haven.);

• Permitting tenants’ unions to register with and be recognized by the City’s Fair Rent Commission;

• Empowering tenants’ unions to engage and assist the City’s Fair Rent Commission in its investigative function in response to complaints of excessive rent increases and substandard living conditions at a property, with the added ability to designate a tenants’ union representative to assist and advocate for their tenants, both individually and collectively, while also recognizing the due process rights of landlords.

"With the increase of tenants’ unions in New Haven, this proposed legislation is an important first step in officially recognizing tenants’ unions and identifying how to receive and review their complaints within the purview of the Fair Rent Commission’s authority,” Bermudez said.

“While state law allows for tenants’ unions, this proposal places New Haven as one of the first cities in Connecticut to formally advance municipal legislation to define tenants’ unions and to provide a space for them to bring their concerns before the Fair Rent Commission," she noted, "While also recognizing the due process rights of landlords.”

The Fair Rent Commission envisions a two-track model for complaints from members of a tenants’ union. Each tenant would still need to file an individual complaint with the assistance of a designated tenants’ union representative, if desired, to make a claim of an excessive rent increase — and each complaint would still be ruled on individually, as conditions often vary from unit to unit.

However, tenants’ union members would have the added ability to collectively present their concerns regarding conditions at the property with the assistance of a designated tenants’ union representative via a separate procedure to the Fair Rent Commission. The ordinance also provides due process protections for the landlord, including notice of the complaint and a right to be heard by the Commission. This supplemental process will help inform the Commission’s review, understanding of conditions at the property, and investigation – and, ultimately, assist the Commission in ruling on each individual complaint as well as future complaints at that property. The Commission may also wish to refer unsafe or unhealthy living conditions discovered as the result of these investigations to the appropriate City department. Importantly, members of the tenants’ union would have protection from any inappropriate retaliatory evictions from their landlord.

Notably, the proposed ordinance also expands the criteria that the Fair Rent Commission would use in making determinations as to whether a rental charge is excessive, increasing the number of criteria from nine to thirteen and amending the City of New Haven Ordinances so they conform to Connecticut General Statutes.

The proposed ordinance was submitted to the New Haven Board of Alders on Monday, June 6th for review and consideration.