New London attorney moves for intervention at high-rises
Reardon wants city found in default of deal to help Crystal Avenue residents
New London — The attorney representing the 124 families at the Thames River Apartments has filed a court motion asking a judge to find that the New London Housing Authority and city are in default of a 2014 court-stipulated judgment that required the authority to find replacement homes for the tenants of the troubled high-rises.
Attorney Robert Reardon is asking a Superior Court judge to reopen the judgment, enter a default and order that an independent receiver be appointed to take control of the federally subsidized apartment complex on Crystal Avenue.
The judgment was the result of a decade of litigation against the housing authority as part of a class-action lawsuit demanding safe, habitable and affordable homes as opposed to the unsafe and unsanitary conditions described by the tenants.
The housing authority has already failed to meet deadlines set forth in the judgment with no signs that construction of replacement housing would be started by Nov. 1 as stipulated in the agreement, Reardon contends.
The housing authority enlisted a Massachusetts company to find a suitable site and construct replacement housing. But that effort, which involved the purchase of the Edgerton School site, stalled with the denial of a needed zone change.
Meanwhile, last year the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development downgraded the housing authority’s status to substandard and an inspection of the Crystal Avenue high-rises turned up numerous issues that included rodent infestations, air-quality issues and a general lack of maintenance.
“The NLHA’s incompetence in doing basic upkeep and maintenance, as well as the financial improprieties noted by HUD, demonstrates that the NLHA is incapable of even marginally improving conditions at the Thames River apartments, let alone initiating and overseeing a multi-million dollar project to replace the buildings,” Reardon wrote in his motion.
The housing authority’s Board of Commissioners has since replaced executive director Sue Shontell and taken steps, with prompting from
Mayor Michael Passero, to come up with an alternative to the Edgerton School proposal. The authority decided to apply for a demolition disposition from HUD as a way of condemning the apartments and issuing vouchers for the tenants to live elsewhere.
Reardon last month issued the city and housing authority officials an April 1 deadline to prove their commitment to the judgment and called for a revised timeline and outline of plans going forward. He said he has seen neither.
Recently hired Housing Authority Executive Director Roy Boling said the application process is ongoing and further litigation will not change the efforts of the housing authority to move the tenants. It’s been the priority, he said, since he took the position two months ago. He said he is hoping the application to HUD will be submitted by June 30.
“We’re working towards a long term solution and that is the disposition of Thames River and the relocation of those residents through the issuance of tenant protection vouchers,” Boling said.
Reardon argues in the motion that he is prepared to present evidence in court about the multiple failures of the housing authority and the city in the years since the stipulated judgment.
“This court must now assume oversight and jurisdiction over all further efforts to address the basic human needs of the Plaintiffs by entering the order, first sought over a decade ago, to appoint a qualified independent receiver to manage and direct all the affairs, responsibilities, duties and obligations of the City of New London and the New London Housing Authority…” Reardon wrote.
Reardon also calls for the city to appropriate adequate funding to resolve the hot water issue, something Boling said was addressed with repairs to one of the existing boilers and the coming of warmer weather.
The motion is expected to be heard in Hartford Superior Court though a date had not yet been established.