Tenant Union Proposal Advances

Tenant unions are now one step closer to getting a seat at the table in New Haven government. 

That’s the result of a hearing that took place Monday evening at City Hall, where the Legislation Committee of the Board of Alders unanimously voted to advance a proposed amendment to the city’s ordinance governing the Fair Rent Commission, which hears complaints from tenants against landlords. The amendment would recognize tenant unions and give them a voice in commission investigations by the Fair Rent Commission, allowing for them to raise collective problems community members are having with landlords. (Click here for a previous story detailing the proposal.)

The proposal now goes to the full Board of Alders for a final debate and vote.

Everyone who testified before the vote at Monday night’s hearing spoke in favor of the change. Speakers included tenant union organizers, including some of the founders of the Quinnipiac and Beaver Hill tenant’s unions as well as members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Alders Jeanette Morrison, Adam Marchand, and Charles Decker (the committee chair) spoke in favor of the resolution. All five members present, including Richard Furlow and Ellen Cupo, voted in favor.

“These amendments will help tenants get better support from the city through unions that are recognized and have a seat at the table while also bring together all of the stakeholders, tenants, tenants union, landlords, and the commission, to the table so that we can work together and move forward,” said Fair Rent Commission Executive Director Wildaliz Bermudez. 

The amendment to the ordinance carries out four main goals and was first unveiled by New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and Bermudez in June. First, it provides a formal definition for a tenant union: tenants from 10 or more separate rental units sharing common ownership location on the same parcel or on adjoining parcels sharing ownership. The union must be formed by the majority of the tenants and registered with the Fair Rent Commission. 

Second, the ordinance creates tenant representatives, individuals chosen by a union as their representative, who can directly work with the commission on matters related to the tenants. This person does not have to be a tenant. 

Third, the ordinance formally allows the commission to recognize the right of the union to have a seat at the commission’s table through the ability to both request and assist investigations into landlords and management. While the union may request an investigation, formal complaints must still be submitted by individual tenants, and each complaint will be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis.

Finally, to bring the city’s ordinances into compliance with state law, the city will add four criteria in determining if a rent raise is excessive: the availability of utilities, damages done to the premise by tenants, the amount/frequency of increases in rental charges, and whether the income from the increase in rent will be reinvested into the building. 

The amendment to the city’s ordinances comes on the back of protests from a new tenant union including a march on City Hall, where Elicker vowed to work with organizers. 

Morrison suggested to Bermudez that an addition be made to the amendment so that the Fair Rent Commission provides an annual update on union organizing and the progress that has been made with tenant unions included. 

Morrison and Marchand also raised process questions about how the decision was made for the number of people required to form a union being 10, as well as the requirement for approval from a majority of tenants. 

City Corporation Counsel Patricia King replied that the number 10 had come from recommendations that the Livable City Initiative had made based upon their study of the average building size in the city. 

Quinnipiac Gardens tenant union organizer Luke Melonakos-Harrison told alders that all across the city he can see housing falling into disrepair as landlords prosper.

He also helped translate the testimony of Mercedes Ramos, who told alders in Spanish that ​“we just want to live with basic human dignity and respect and that recognition will help us get one step closer.” 

Nick Pokorzynski, a tenant organizer, told alders that rental opportunities in the city are ​“a disgrace.” He said he lives in an Edgewood apartment building where residents were given cheap heaters that led to their paying thousands of dollars extra in heating costs last winter. 

“You can’t have fair rent or sensible rent if you have to choose between paying rent and staying warm,” said Pokorzynski. ​“When we started to organize and form a union, though, the landlord became much more receptive. That’s the point of all of this: There is more power in more of us coming together and demanding what we deserve.”