Thomas Breen file photo
At a recent protest against Ocean's Blake St. eviction filings.
A megalandlord has walked back on threats to evict 16 tenants and agreed to negotiate on lease security, rent stability and living conditions — after members of the city’s first legally recognized tenants union used public and legal pressure to hang on to their homes.
Ocean Management, one of New Haven’s largest property management-landlord-real estate investment outfits, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Blake Street Tenants Union that rescinds those 16 notices to quit in exchange for the withdrawal of a lawsuit and fair rent complaint filed against the business by union members.
That all comes after the union fired back against the landlord’s attempt to kick out a quarter of residents at the Elizabeth Apartments complex at 311 Blake St. in late August, claiming that the lapse-of-time eviction notices — which stated that tenants had to move out because their leases had expired and the landlord did not want to renew — were actually an act of retaliation against tenants for organizing to push back against a potential rent hike.
“Ocean Management by no means took a ‘retaliatory’ action, and does not view the situation in terms of ‘wins’ and losses,’ ” Ocean representative Yohay Levram told the Independent. “It is unfortunate that the union chooses to use such terminology, as unnecessary rhetoric jeopardizes the honest attempts made by Ocean Management to resolve the matter without resorting to legal action.”
Read about the situation in more detail here. Since Ocean first began distributing those notices to quit in residents’ doorways on Aug. 19, the tenants union delivered a petition opposing the eviction filings to their landlord, held a press conference, filed for injunctive relief, filed a lawsuit, and organized a protest with over 300 tenants rights activists and local labor organizers. On Sept. 1, Ocean drafted and signed a memorandum of understanding withdrawing those notices and promising not to pursue any more lapse-of-time evictions for at least three months.
“The Blake Street Tenant Union was defending themselves against these evictions in a different way almost every day,” housing organizer Luke Melanakos-Harrison said. “The problems Blake Street Tenants are dealing with are obviously being widely dealt with across our state. Now, it’s clear that tenants unions are a viable option going forward, that they have real power to protect people and be a vital solution to the overall housing crisis.”
Many Blake Street tenants were kept on month-to-month leases after Ocean purchased the property two years ago, meaning that every 30 days their landlord could choose to let that lease expire and cite lapse-of-time to order that tenants vacate their homes. That’s what happened in August, when 16 tenants were told their time on Blake Street was up.
Melanakos-Harrison said he hopes the union’s win will also mean “more and more people will come to understand how unfair these types of evictions are and why we need universal no-cause eviction protections in Connecticut.”
The Connecticut Mirror further reported that the MOU marked the first time a landlord has formally agreed to negotiate with a tenants union in Connecticut.
“The union has received recognition from the city before, but now they’ve actually got recognition from the landlord,” Melanakos-Harrison said. “That’s what we’ve been working for and it’s a huge step forward.
“We’ve sent a pretty powerful message to both landlords and tenants across the state that wielding eviction as a form of retaliation is not gonna be tolerated and it’s not gonna be met without a fight.”
Tenant Jessica Stamp said the tumultuous two weeks have ultimately given her more faith in peoples’ ability to stand up for themselves and others against entities that may seem disproportionately powerful.
She said that during upcoming negotiations, she’s aiming to argue for a five-year lease, which would lock her into one year at the property and then determine a specific amount of notice tenants would need to provide prior to breaking a lease past that point. Stamp said the union is also hoping the landlord will agree to more robust and regular communications, such as a guarantee that Ocean’s office will return calls within 24 hours and an agreement to meet with the union every few months. Beyond coming to a compromise on any proposed rent hikes, Stamp also said the union is interested in requesting that the landlord make public how much the entire complex is paying in rent and how much Ocean is reinvesting in the property.
“We don’t want to go to the city, we don’t want to get them in trouble,” she said of Ocean Management. “We just want to get everything fixed!”
“I was incredibly anxious, I was having panic attacks, I broke out in hives,” Stamp said of those last days in August, when the evictions were still pending. “I was having a hard time sleeping not just because I was concerned for myself, but because I felt the weight of fifteen other people who were involved and upset.”
“I wanted to give them assurance, but there was nothing to assure them with,” she said.
Days later, she feels certain of the union’s capacity to create change.
The MOU establishes a three month “cooling off” period which bars Ocean from issuing more notices to quit based on lapse-of-time and prohibits the union from commencing additional civil actions against Ocean for 90 days. During that time, the two will negotiate leases, rent, and property conditions. If resolutions are not reached before then, Ocean can opt to evict their tenants and the tenants can seek once again to sue their landlord.
“I feel that three month period lingering on the horizon, but I feel hope,” Stamp reflected. If Ocean takes action against the union again, Stamp said, the union will know how to fight back.
Ocean will play the long game. THey have the ability to do this, unlike little landlords, who would be driven out ofbusiness. I wonder how many of the tenants here are up to date with September 2023rent?