Workshop Works Out Tenant Power Path

A Blake Street apartment complex’s tenants are looking to make their union official — as the city’s Fair Rent Commission director works on getting out the word about the opportunities for collective renter power at City Hall.

That news came out of a workshop that Fair Rent Commission Executive Director Wildaliz Bermudez hosted at the Fair Haven branch public library on Grand Avenue Thursday night.

The purpose of the workshop was to explain the Fair Rent Commission’s state-empowered authority to eliminate excessive rents, and to talk through how tenants can file fair rent complaints. Bermudez also discussed how tenants’ unions can now legally register with the city and participate in fair rent investigations and hearings thanks to a law recently passed by the Board of Alders. (See below in this article for a full rundown of how a tenants’ union can register with the city.)

One of the few members of the public to attend Thursday’s workshop was Jessica Stamp, a renter and tenants’ union organizer at the 70-unit Beaver Hills apartment complex at 311 Blake St.

Stamp told Bermudez and this reporter that she and her neighbors are in the midst of renewing their efforts to make their tenants’ union official.

Stamp said at Thursday’s meeting that she and fellow 311 Blake tenants’ union organizers previously passed around a petition six months ago to create a union at the Ocean Management-owned property. She said that petition was subsequently misplaced — so Stamp is now collecting signatures again.

She came out to the Fair Rent Commission’s workshop on Thursday to hear directly from the city agency’s director about how to file complaints now that tenants’ unions have a legal path towards recognition in New Haven.

The original move to unionize came after Ocean Management took ownership of the building at the start of this year, she said. Stamp said the conditions in the building plummeted as the tenants were hit with the threat of rent hikes. (Click here for a previous story and to read Ocean’s then-property manager’s responses about how rents did not increase and all tenants would be put on month-to-month leases.) Stamp claimed on Thursday the problems at 311 Blake — including piles of construction-related garbage and a mice infestation — have only gotten worse over the past six month.

“I hear you,” said Fair Rent Commission Executive Director Wildaliz Bermudez, listening intently to Stamp’s complaints.

Bermudez began the workshop at the Fair Haven Library by explaining how tenants and tenants’ unions, like Stamp’s, could file complaints with the Fair Rent Commission. She explained that even with the unions, complaints would have to be filed individually. This is because after the FRC receives the complaint, the Livable City Initiative conducts an inspection, which must be done on a unit-by-unit basis. 

A key change following the ordinance amendment to recognize tenants’ unions is that individuals may now be represented by a union representative when they go to the FRC, where before they could only be represented by themself or a lawyer — often ​“too complicated or unaffordable,” said Bermudez.

Having been the executive director for nine months, Bermudez told attendees about three of her goals for the FRC. 

She would like to publish an annual report with data about the location of complaints and the demographics of tenants.

She would like to fill the four empty commissioner seats (anyone with a familiarity and passion for housing issues is encouraged to apply). 

And finally, she would like to reach tenants in every part of the city. ​“We need to meet people where they are,” Bermudez said, ​“whether that is at the library, in their churches, or anywhere else.”

Bermudez was optimistic that unionizing would help tenants achieve fair treatment by landlords. ​“Tenants will be able to come together,” she told the Independent. ​“They will be better protected from retaliation.” 

Stamp, on the other hand, isn’t so sure. She told the Independent that she ​“does not feel more hopeful” about improving her living situation since tenants cannot file complaints collectively.

She fears that the union will fall apart again before anything changes — neighbors fed up with the conditions are moving out much faster than anyone is moving in, whittling away at the union’s numbers. She said she worries that old tenants will keep moving out and new tenants willing to pay higher rents will replace them. 

“I don’t want to move,” Stamp said. ​“I’m a teacher and this is a nice, affordable rent.” But she is worried that she might have to, even with the efforts of the union.

Another attendee was more excited about the prospect of organizing a union. Chair of the Livable City Initiative Board and a landlord himself, Seth Poole has seen similar conditions to what Stamp described at his father’s apartment on Sheffield Avenue.

While helping a Yale graduate student carry some boxes up to their new apartment, Poole noticed that the new units were furnished with granite countertops and other updates, while his father’s unit has not been renovated in several years and black mold spreads across the ceiling. 

Pointing out the differences between his father’s living conditions and those of the new residents moving in, Poole told Bermudez that ​“this is gentrification happening in real time.”

Bermudez agreed. ​“Communities of color can be the hardest hit,” she said. ​“They can face the highest utility bills, the highest rents.” She even pointed out that the New Haven communities with the most diversity have less trees, creating ​“cooling deserts” and driving up utility costs even further in the warm months.

“[The landlords] are quite literally putting people’s lives at risk,” Poole said. Bermudez encouraged him to organize the tenants, which he is allowed to do even as a non-resident, and he plans to get started right away.

How To Register A Local Tenants' Union

So. How exactly does a tenants’ union register with the city?

First of all, the law passed by the alders in early September defines a tenants’ union as an organization whose membership consists of tenants living in a housing complex with at least 10 apartments. They can also live in adjacent residential properties owned by the same landlord if those properties all have a combined total of at least 10 units. And a majority of those tenants must agree to the creation of the union in order for the union to qualify to register with the city.

In an email comment sent to the Independent Monday morning, Bermudez said that a tenants’ union can register with the Fair Rent Commission by filling out the ​“Tenants’ Union Registration Form.” This form will be made available online on the city’s website by no later than Nov. 1. Interested applicants will also fill be able to fill out the form in person at the Fair Rent Commission’s office in City Hall.

Bermudez also noted that the Fair Rent Commission will be hosting a hearing and potential vote during its next meeting on Tuesday on the proposed ​“Fair Rent Commission & Tenants’ Unions Proposed Rules & Regulations.” Included in this to-be-voted-upon item is the ​“Tenants’ Union Registration Form.”

“Now that the law has been voted on by the Board of Alders and signed by the Mayor, as soon as the FRC Commissioners adopt the Proposed Rules and Regulations, the document will then be available for the public,” Bermudez wrote. ​“The public will be able to request the Tenants’ Union Registration Form directly from our office.”

Bermudez also said that, as of Monday, no tenants’ unions have registered with her city office as of yet.

How would the official registration of tenants’ unions with the city affect the city’s fair rent hearing process?

Bermudez said that a tenants’ union representative can now participate in fair rent complaint hearings, if that representative’s union is properly registered with the city.

“We now have a 2 track model to hear complaints,” she wrote. ​“Through the traditional power to hear complaints i.e. Informal Hearing and Public Hearing. Plus, we can now hold a workshop or forum to bring tenants’ union reps and landlords to discuss general conditions. This helps us clarify a record. Within all of this we will have a due process for tenants and landlords. 

“Complaints occurring inside each unit must continue to be filed individually due to the particularities of each unit and because if it is ever appealed in court, the case must be seen individually regarding what is occurring in each unit. Tenants’ Unions can request FRC to conduct an investigation of common areas.”

How is this new process helpful? Bermudez asked in her email comment.

“It provides defense against retaliatory eviction for Tenants’ Unions,” she wrote. And it ​“creates a system for all parties to address each other (i.e. hold forums between landlords and Tenants’ unions.”)

“This entire process helps to build a history and larger understanding of complexes and what’s happening,” Bermudez concluded. ​“In the end, we want both sides at the table to build a fair and well-maintained housing stock.”

Thomas Breen contributed to this report.