‘You’re killing us with your inaction’
Fake body bags left outside state Capitol, governor’s residence to protest housing crisis
HARTFORD — Housing activists quietly placed fake body bags in front of the Connecticut State Capitol, governor’s residence, Hartford City Hall and other locations Thursday, with the suspicious bundles triggering a response from law enforcement.
The black trash bags — which may have sparked a brief lockdown of the Capitol Grounds on Thursday afternoon — were dropped on April Fool’s Day to call attention to the ongoing housing and eviction crisis. They included signs that stated, “Eviction is not a joke,” and “Cancel Rent,” according to photos provided by activist Ivelisse Correa, who said she was invited to participate and helped with some coordination of the protest.
Correa, the housing chair of Black Lives Matter 860, declined to name the organizers of the protest, but said they sought to demonstrate that evictions and hazardous housing conditions are life-threatening problems amidst a pandemic.
“You’re killing us with your inaction,” she said to the state and problem landlords.
A couple of the duct-tape-wrapped bags were wedged under and hung from the gate of the governor’s residence on Prospect Avenue, while one was left in the parking lot of the Capitol, photos show.
Connecticut State Democrats wrote on Twitter Thursday afternoon that the grounds and the building were on lockdown due to a suspicious package. They tweeted less than 10 minutes later that the lockdown was lifted.
Capitol police have said only that several suspicious packages were left on the grounds, though they did not contain anything that was a cause for safety concern. Capitol and state police have both declined to release further information, referring questions to each other Friday.
The other bags were left outside Hartford and New Haven city halls, Hartford Housing court at 80 Washington Street, and the Avalon Village rental office on Farmington
Avenue, which has been the site of several protests over housing conditions the last two weeks.
Hartford police confirmed the bags were left at City Hall and at the rental office on Farmington Avenue. Lt. Aaron Boisvert said they were filled with old clothing and cardboard.
Correa said there were two targets of the body bag protest: “slumlords” and the state.
For one, she says, neglectful landlords have been retaliating against non-paying tenants by refusing to make repairs and taking advantage of the pandemic to let properties fall farther into disrepair, Correa said.
One company that has come under fire recently is Avalon Village, a collection of Hartford apartment buildings owned by MSK Properties and Stratus Equities — which share a New Jersey address — through numerous limited liability companies.
Tenants and activists have rallied outside Avalon’s locked and apparently empty office twice in the last two weeks, complaining of rodent and insect infestations, broken doors and locks, and new fees tacked on to their rent.
Those protests were organized by a tenant with help from BLM 860, Central Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America and Citizens Opposed to Police States.
Avalon Village and MSKProperties have not responded to requests for comment.
As for the state, Correa said BLM 860 and other housing advocacy groups have been fielding numerous complaints about UniteCT, the $235 million program Gov. Ned Lamont launched in mid-March to provide financial assistance to renters, landlords and utility companies.
They say the program is not getting off the ground quickly enough. Meanwhile, many tenants are already being evicted because they were behind in rent before the pandemic hit and are not covered by federal or state moratoriums.
The organizers of the body bag protest want to see the state launch the call center that was promised in March. So far, all tenants can do is fill out an online form and wait for the application process for aid to open up.
“That’s not paying rent,” Correa said. “That’s not helping anyone who’s getting threatening text messages from their landlords. ... They pretty much just threw bread crumbs and said ‘Don’t worry, we’ll help you all eventually.’ ”