Lawmakers, Activists Seek To ​“Cap The Rent”

By LAURA GLESBY | New Haven Independent

Hundreds of tenant rights organizers from across Connecticut gathered online to kickstart a new campaign focused on limiting annual rent increases — on the same day that two New Haven state legislators introduced a bill in Hartford that would cap such hikes at no more than 2.5 percent a year. 

The Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and partnering organizations announced that proposed rent cap law and associated doorknocking effort on Thursday night during a Zoom-streamed meeting online.

Roughly 225 people attended the ​“Cap The Rent CT” launch event to learn about the advocacy campaign, and to celebrate Thursday’s introduction of Proposed Senate Bill 138: ​“An Act Concerning Rent Stability and No-Fault Evictions.” 

That proposed law is co-sponsored by New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield and State Rep. Robyn Porter, among others. If passed, it would limit rent increases in Connecticut to no more than 2.5 percent per year. It would also restrict ​“no-fault” evictions related to, for example, expired or invalid leases. 

Click here to read the text of the proposed bill itself, which states that it would amend Title 47a of the state general statues to ​“prohibit rent increases that exceed two and one-half per cent on an annual basis” and ​“establish rules for no-fault evictions and exceptions for such evictions.” The bill as proposed would not affect evictions related to nonpayment of rent or serious nuisances. So-called ​“no-fault” evictions are already prohibited in Connecticut for public housing and elderly tenants. 

No-fault evictions spiked in New Haven and across the state last year as pandemic-era eviction restrictions lifted. In 2022, according to the Independent’s review of New Haven eviction lawsuits, they accounted for 16.5 percent of all eviction lawsuits filed in the city.

At Thursday’s Zoom meeting and campaign kickoff, housing activists from across Connecticut hailed the proposed bill as a critical protection from homelessness, gentrification, and exploitative housing arrangements.

“Our rent increases every year and our incomes do not,” said Hartford Tenants Union activist Sharon Terrell.

“Safe, stable, and healthy housing is a human right,” said Greta Blau, an organizer with the Hamden Tenants Union and Seramonte Tenants Union. ​“We have momentum now. We have a vibrant movement now, and the Hamden Tenants Union is here to fight to pass this crucial legislation now.”

Thursday’s meeting marked the official launch of a new ​“Cap The Rent” campaign, championed by the DSA and tenants unions in New Haven, Hamden, and Hartford, alongside the Connecticut Fair Housing Center; SEIU locals 1199, 1973, and 2001; AAUP-CSU (state universities’ faculty union), El Pueblo Unido, Black and Brown United In Action, Citywide Youth Coalition, BPT Gen Now, Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance, Make The Road Connecticut, Recovery For All, NBRJC, and the Connecticut Legal Rights Project. 

Many of these same groups successfully advocated for the state’s passage two years ago of a ​“Right to Counsel” bill that boosts legal representation for eligible low-income tenants in certain zip codes across the state.

For the state legislative session that began in Hartford earlier this month, the coalition is now agitating for a 3 percent annual rent cap at maximum, which would apply both when tenants renew year-to-year leases and when a new tenant is moving into a previously-rented apartment. The bill introduced by Winfield and Porter would go a half-point further in capping rent increases at 2.5 percent a year.