Another Ocean Tenants Union Forms

Fed up with waking up to the rancid stench of flooded sewage in her apartment building’s basement, Hope started knocking on some of her neighbors’ doors at 1275 – 1291 Quinnipiac Ave.

Within six weeks, Hope had joined with other organizers with the Connecticut Tenants Union to gather 21 signatures from residents of the building’s 20 units. They officially filed the paperwork to become New Haven’s third and fastest-to-form tenants union on Wednesday afternoon.

When a community organizer with the statewide Connecticut Tenants Union knocked on her door one day this summer, Hope (who declined to share her last name for this article) immediately signed on to help unionize her apartment building. ​“It was something I was already doing myself: going door-to-door with my neighbors,” she said at City Hall on Wednesday.

In just over a month, they gathered signatures from residents of almost every apartment in the building, which is owned by an affiliate of the local megalandlord Ocean Management.

They submitted the union formation paperwork to Wildaliz Bermúdez, the city’s Fair Rent Commission director, who stamped the pages and made the union official.

Members of the fledgling union now have the ability to enlist a union representative to advocate for their concerns before the Fair Rent Commission, thanks to a city law approved nearly a year ago.

In New Haven, the Connecticut Tenants Union has focused on consolidating tenant activism against Ocean Management, the landlord for 1275 – 1291 Quinnipiac Ave. and one of the city’s largest property owners. All three of New Haven’s formalized tenant unions are at Ocean-controlled properties. 

Mark Washington, the vice president of the city’s first-ever official tenants union at 311 Blake St., took point on coordinating unionizing efforts at the Quinnipiac Avenue complex. ​“They are to a point where they are tired of Ocean not answering phone calls” and running the property without regard for the fact that it’s a living environment, Washington said on Wednesday.

The Blake Street Tenants Union was an inspiration for Hope. ​“Blake Street, they’re already established,” she said. ​“I definitely feel more empowered” being part of the statewide union.

Last week, Ocean served eviction notices to 16 households living at 311 Blake St. The notices prompted the union to protest and file a lawsuit against the company for retaliation. Amid all of this turmoil, Ocean is selling more of its properties.

CT Tenants Union Vice President Luke Melonakos-Harrison said on Wednesday that the new Quinnipiac Avenue union formed with full knowledge of the eviction notices served at Blake Street. They decided to move forward with the union ​“despite Ocean’s attempt to retaliate, rather than being intimidated. They’ve seen what Blake Street has been able to accomplish,” he said. 

Click here and here to read about the city’s other two officially recognized tenants unions.

Sewage. Mold. Infestations

Hope said that sewage has been leaking into the basement right below her apartment since she first moved in. 

Fecal matter and loose menstrual products would fill the basement, with the liquid at times accumulating to three feet high. The smell pervades Hope’s apartment. She purchased three air purifiers and keeps them running constantly, racking up her electric bill, she said.

Hope’s landlord, Ocean Management, ​“would just say they were aware.” They would make small fixes, but ​“it was always a band-aid.” The sewage kept coming back. 

When asked about the union’s formation and the sewage problem, an Ocean representative who declined to be identified by name said, ​“This is their right. I don’t know that we have a response to it.”

Hope’s apartment also saw mice and cockroach infestations, she said. The bathroom and even the kitchen developed signs of mold. One of the doors in her apartment doesn’t have the space to fully open. Some of her neighbors told her they were facing rent increases of about $200 a month, despite the building’s conditions.

In May, the building failed a Livable City Initiative (LCI) inspection for 11 housing code violations, including the sewage, rodents, and live wires. According to Hope and Washington, LCI put Hope and some neighbors up in a hotel for two days.

When Hope returned, she said, the sewage had been drained, but ​“the smell was still there” and ​“the basement was damp.” She said the problem has continued to recur.

The tenants union has given her a new sense of power over her living conditions. ​“There’s strength in numbers,” she said. ​“We’re being bullied.”