The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Advocates: Eviction crisis on horizon
Editor’s note: This is part of a Hearst Connecticut Media series examining the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the state’s real estate market and community resources.
Thousands of struggling Connecticut renters could be “headed for a cliff” without a safety net, advocates say.
They say a relief program designed by Gov. Ned Lamont to aid renters has been rife with problems since it debuted this month.
The results, some said, could be catastrophic for renters who have fallen behind on their monthly payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, either because they lost a job or wages.
“Between the eviction moratorium — whenever that expires — the sunsetting of the unemployment subsidy and the mortgage forbearance that will also sunset at some point this fall, we do think low-income renters, particularly in Fairfield County, are headed for a cliff,” said Christie Stewart, director of Fairfield County’s Center for Housing Opportunity.
The state’s Temporary Rental Housing Assistance Program launched July 15 with roughly $10 million in funding meant to aid tenants facing housing insecurity as a result of the pandemic, especially hardships caused by job loss or COVID-related expenses.
The program, which is funded through the Federal CARES Act, allows eligible residents to receive up to $4,000 in total assistance over a 12-month period dating back to March 1. Each household is limited to $1,000 in assistance per month. Those eligible can apply by contacting the state’s recently launched call center.
But, advocates like Stewart say the program does too little to address the issue, especially with the state’s eviction moratorium set to end Aug. 22.
Recent data from the University of California Berkeley’s Terner Center estimates the number of Fairfield County households at risk of housing instability nearly doubled since the start of the pandemic, from 21,500 preCOVID to 41,200.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates COVID-impacted families in Connecticut will need an average of $12,000 in assistance to stave off eviction. Based on both estimates, Stewart said the state’s rental assistance needs are in the ballpark of $236 million. Not only does it not meet the state’s need, according
to Stewart, it specifically puts minority residents at risk.
For that reason, Fionnuala Darby-Hudgens, community outreach and education coordinator with the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, said her organization has urged Lamont and his administration to view additional aid to renters as an anti-racist policy.
“The majority of Connecticut
tenants who rent are Black and Latino,” Darby-Hudgens said. “Seventy percent of Black families rent in comparison to 30 percent of white families. When we have an impending eviction crisis, it’s inevitably going to be people of color who are defendants.”
In addition, Darby-Hudgens said clients have complained the state’s call center only has an English language option. The number costs money to the caller and many are forced
to hold for long periods of time, if they can get through at all, Darby-Hudgens said.
During a Friday event in West Haven, Lamont said he wasn’t aware of issues with the program’s call center, but would investigate. In response to claims that $10 million in assistance was too meager a number, he said the total amount allocated in housing assistance, including mortgage, rental and eviction aid, was around $40 million.
“We’re hoping we’re going to get something more from the feds,” Lamont said. He added that the intent of the program was not merely “giving you money,” and that part of the plan was working with individual landlords to come up with payment plans that would allow people to remain in their homes.
But Erin Kemple, executive director of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, said that in addition to being too small a pool of
money, the criteria for the program could deter potentially qualified residents from applying.
Applicants must be current in rent, for example. That means the many people who have fallen behind would automatically be excluded from the program. The program is also not mandatory, meaning landlords could refuse to participate if they believed the tenants couldn’t pay the required 30 percent of their income toward rent.
“We’re worried people are going to be discouraged once they see what’s laid out with this,” Kemple said. “We’re concerned people are not going to apply, which will lead the state in the short term to say there’s not demand.”
In many places, landlords are working with tenants to provide aid. That includes Charter Oak Communities, Stamford’s housing authority. Vincent Tufo, chief executive officer of Charter Oak, said the housing authority raised $135,000 as of mid-July in
private donations, which it then matched.
Charter Oak will deliver the aid to families who have fallen behind. The families will then have to pay back 50 percent of whatever subsidy they’ve received.
“It turns current rental obligations and arrearages, which could lead to eviction, into long-term obligation at a 50 percent discount,” Tufo said.
The intent is to prevent any Charter Oak resident from facing eviction. The housing authority has also mobilized residence service coordinators to work with individuals who have fallen behind.
The $270,000 available to Charter Oak will cover all residents in need for an estimated six months. But if the pandemic continues beyond that point, and if families continue to struggle, Tufo said additional fundraising may be needed.
And for rent-burdened people elsewhere in the state, there already may
not be enough money to go around.
In the meantime, despite the moratorium, evictions are still being filed by landlords. According to a Connecticut Fair Housing Center database, 894 evictions have been filed in Connecticut since the pandemic started. According to Darby-Hudgens, the group’s intakes are up 300 percent since the start of the pandemic, many of which are people who have fallen behind on rent and are inquiring about available resources.
For many, without further intervention, the coming months could be full of continued uncertainty.
“As of now, evictions are on a moratorium, that says landlords cannot send notices to quit or bring eviction actions until Aug. 22,” Kemple said. “I think we won’t see the full effect of whether or not this program is working until then.”