by Dereen Shirnekhi The New Haven independent
Paul Bryan Jr. made his way to housing court Tuesday with hopes that he won’t have to come back again, as lawyers and tenants of a West River affordable housing complex continue trying to resolve a slate of months-long eviction cases.
The legal aid lawyer for those tenants, meanwhile, expects the landlord to withdraw the last of those remaining eviction cases soon.
Bryan lives at the Curtis Cofield II Estates, a 56-unit, townhouse-style complex bounded by Legion Avenue, Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Tyler Street that opened to tenants in the spring of 2025. The owner of the apartments, an affiliate of the New York-based affordable housing developer the NHP Foundation, filed 22 eviction lawsuits in December for nonpayment of rent.
Some tenants have claimed that their nonpayment of rent was due to miscommunication on the landlord’s part, as well as frequent turnover of property managers. Some said that they fell behind on payments and were working to catch up.
Nine of those eviction lawsuits have since been withdrawn; 13 are still working their way through housing court. None of these lawsuits have yet resulted in a tenant actually being removed from the property.
Some Curtis Cofield tenants, like Bryan, receive Project Based Vouchers (PBVs) through the Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) program, formerly known as Section 8. Those vouchers, distributed through the Housing Authority of New Haven (HANH), were reserved for formerly homeless tenants who took part in a lottery process. Tenants with vouchers pay a third of their monthly income in rent.
Many of those tenants now facing eviction told the Independent or the court that they were told their rent was $0 when they first signed their leases and weren’t notified their rental amount had changed until they were served with pre-eviction notices.
“They told me I didn’t have to pay for a full year,” said Bryan on Tuesday, as he waited to talk to his attorney and his landlord’s attorneys at his first court hearing at 121 Elm St.
When he secured his voucher through the housing authority’s lottery and signed his lease for his one-bedroom apartment at Curtis Cofield in April 2025, Bryan said he was told he didn’t have to pay anything in rent for a year. Bryan’s lease, which was included as part of court filings in his eviction case, states that his rent is $2,140. In pen, someone added “To be paid by HA,” likely meaning housing authority.
Bryan said that his rent increased to $250 per month over the summer, but he hadn’t been notified and didn’t realize he had been missing payments until he received a notice to quit in late October.
He likes his apartment, he said — especially the fact that there’s a bus stop right outside.
Before moving into his apartment, Bryan said, “I was on the street.” If he’s evicted, he said he’ll be homeless again.
Still, he’s keeping calm. “It is what it is,” he said.
Bryan’s case was continued as he seeks a resolution that will allow him to stay in place, and, hopefully, not have to return to court in person again.
New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA) attorney Shelley White has been representing Curtis Cofield tenants alongside her colleagues since court proceedings began.
White, who spoke with the landlord’s attorneys from the Milford-based Landlord Law Firm at court mediation on Tuesday, said afterward that she is “hoping” that the eviction cases will be withdrawn, with PBV recipients not having to pay back rent for the months they claimed not to know their rent had increased. “It’s our position that they shouldn’t owe anything,” she said.
“The mess up was their mess up,” Bryan said about the landlord.
White also said she hopes that the landlord and the non-PBV recipients will settle on a plan for those tenants to catch up on rent they owe and keep their apartments.
Representatives from the Landlord Law Firm did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article.
NHP Foundation Assistant Vice President Jonathon Singsen declined to comment on the eviction cases while there are ongoing negotiations and directed the Independent to the HANH for questions regarding the PBV recipients.
“To the extent that we cannot comment on the legal process it is always our intent to work with residents towards positive solutions,” Singsen said over email when asked whether the NHP Foundation intends to continue the eviction cases.
Meanwhile, asked whether the NHP Foundation has made any changes to support tenants struggling to make rental payments, Singsen said, “We collaborate with Operation Pathways as our provider of resident services and Columbus House as our provider of permanent supportive services who each offer resources in the community that residents can engage with when faced with financial challenges.”
Curtis Cofield was formerly managed by Massachusetts-based company HallKeen. In January, a spokesperson for HallKeen told the Independent regarding the eviction cases, “We anticipate that majority of these cases will be resolved before a Writ of Execution, or eviction, is issued.”
As of April 1, according to Singsen, NHP Foundation has hired Winn Residential to manage the apartment complex.
“The NHP Foundation has had a long and productive relationship with Hall Keen but a business decision was made to consolidate into a larger regional management team that we have also had a longstanding relationship with and that is Winn,” Singsen said. Feedback from residents, he said, has been positive.
“NHPF is confident in our new management team and their ability to support residents and provide safe and comfortable living conditions at Curtis Cofield,” he continued.
Meanwhile, White, who filed an appearance in Bryan’s eviction case on Wednesday, is hoping that she and her clients won’t have to come back to court to continue negotiating ends to their respective eviction cases.