The case for rent relief in Conn.

Many of you probably remember Graham’s on Greenwich Avenue. I certainly do. My family’s business opened on my fifth birthday in the summer of 2002. Children came into our store for everything from their first haircut to their 13th birthday presents. I like to think that in the decade we were there we became a part of the community.

But many of you probably don’t know that we lived right upstairs.

I remember every detail of our home, the parking lot we called “tar beach” where I played as a kid; sitting on the roof of The Ginger Man until someone came up and yelled at me. I saw a different side of Greenwich in those years, one I fondly remember.

Three years ago, my family lost our home and business on Greenwich Avenue. But we weren’t the only ones. For many years the top blocks of the Avenue were a wasteland of vacant storefronts and quiet streets. But I’m not writing this to tell you my personal story. Instead, I want to make the case for a piece of legislation that probably could have saved us. It probably will help many of you as well.

In 2018, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) introduced S.3250, also known as the Rent Relief Act, which would create a refundable tax credit for families who are forced to spend more than 30 percent of their annual earnings on rent. This legislation would target assistance to the more than 21 million Americans (38 percent of all renters) who are considered “rent burdened” by this definition.

No family or individual would have to pay more than 30 percent of their income toward their rent. Simply put, this would have allowed us to stay in our home.

One of the first to sign on to the Rent Relief Act was our own senator, Richard Blumenthal. In a statement regarding his support, he said: “This bill would help more than 140,000 low-income Connecticut families struggling to pay rent each month, providing them much needed relief and flexibility to spend on other vital needs like health care and putting the American Dream within closer reach ... For far too many in Connecticut and across the country, rising rents and flat paychecks prevent them from enjoying the basic, fundamental human right to affordable housing.”

In the current political climate in Washington this legislation is unlikely to pass. But that shouldn’t stop us from introducing it here at home. Some of the most important policies have begun on the state-level; everything from women’s suffrage and marriage equality to Medicaid expansion. Connecticut has the potential to be at the vanguard of the national housing policy debate.

According to a survey from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 67 percent of extremely low income families in Connecticut are extremely cost burdened by rent, meaning they spend more than 50 percent of their annual income on it.

To afford a two-bedroom rental home at the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent, a family must earn at least $51,799 annually.

The median household income of a family in Hartford is $28,970.

But this is not just a request to help families like my own. It also presents our state with an opportunity to retain its young professionals.

One of the biggest issues our state economy faces is brain drain. 68 percent of total moves in Connecticut last year were to leave the state, the third highest nationally. A large portion of this was from people between the ages of 18 and 34. The Hartford metro area has a retention rate of only 26.4 percent of students after graduation, the second worst in the country. We need to retain these young adults to ensure our state has an educated workforce and encourage employers to make a home here.

This could put Connecticut ahead of the pack in terms of incentivizing young adults to move here. Ensuring rent relief to these students, many of whom struggling to get by with the added burden of college debt, would surely encourage them to move here. I know I would be swayed by it.

Many Connecticut families are struggling to pay their rent. If that includes you, I encourage you to call your local lawmakers and ask them to push for this legislation in the General Assembly. Let’s do what we can to make sure more of us don’t lose our tar beaches.