Connecticut’s Growing Eviction Crisis
/by Melissa Marichal, Shaznene Hussain and Elizabeth Rosenthal
Even before COVID-19, many Connecticut renters struggled to make ends meet. The number of low-wage jobs in Connecticut increased by 34% between 2007 and 2018, while the cost of household essentials rose. United Way of Connecticut estimates that, before the pandemic, 38% of households lacked enough income to cover basic needs. Earning minimum wage, a household would have to work 2.4 full-time jobs to afford Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Connecticut. To save for an emergency, that household would need to work even more hours.
As a result, many families were already one missed paycheck away from eviction—or closer. As of 2016, eviction rates in four Connecticut cities were among the highest in the nation. Last year, nearly 20,000 Connecticut households lost their homes to eviction.
“Last year, nearly 20,000 Connecticut households lost their homes to eviction.”
Evictions disproportionately impact Black and Latinx households. Due to decades of discrimination in housing and employment, Black and Latinx households in Connecticut earn lower wages, possess less wealth, and are less likely to own their homes—67% of Latinx households and 61% of Black households rent, compared to only 24% of white households.
And now, research shows that Black and Latinx people have been hardest hit by the pandemic’s health and economic consequences. In October, over 26% of Latinx renters and 31% of Black renters in Connecticut said they were behind on rent payments, compared to 12% of white renters.
Current government measures to keep renters in their homes have not gone far enough. While the CDC issued a federal eviction moratorium, its protection is limited and not automatic. The Connecticut moratorium now permits landlords to initiate some non-payment eviction cases, and housing courts are again entering default judgments and issuing eviction executions (the order that permits a state marshal to remove a renter from her home).
Connecticut has allocated $40 million to a new Temporary Rental Housing Assistance Program (TRHAP), but this will assist only 10,000 of the estimated 140,500 extremely low-income renters in our state. Landlords have begun pressuring renters to move before their TRHAP applications are processed and many landlords refuse to accept TRHAP assistance because it only covers about three months of rent, or less. Since September 1, landlords have filed 615 new eviction cases, and courts have issued 211 executions.
“Without additional government intervention, eviction rates will spike in January.”
The remaining eviction protections expire on December 31. Without additional government intervention, eviction rates will spike in January. During the winter months, this unprecedented number of evictions will accelerate the spread of COVID-19 by forcing families to double up or enter the shelter system.
Newly unhoused renters will also face additional health consequences, financial costs, and missed school days, as well as long-term barriers to healthy and affordable housing. Most landlords do not rent to individuals with past eviction cases—even if the renter won. Thus, those caught in the eviction wave will be further restricted to low-quality housing in under-resourced neighborhoods.
The growing eviction crisis threatens to entrench existing racial disparities in health, wealth, and housing stability. To stop this, we need far more substantive rent relief and eviction prevention policies.
Connecticut courts should cease issuing eviction executions and default judgments.
Governor Lamont should extend the eviction moratorium for the duration of the public health emergency. And he should increase the State’s rental assistance funding to fully address past and future rental arrears.
The General Assembly should consider new laws that protect tenants' credit and seal or expunge eviction records from this pandemic period.
Simple solutions like these will prevent—not just delay—renters from being evicted, keep small landlords afloat, and reduce the long-term consequences of the pandemic on Black and Latinx households.
Melissa Marichal is a staff attorney at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center. Shaznene Hussain is a community education specialist & tenant organizer at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center. Elizabeth Rosenthal is the deputy director of New Haven Legal Assistance Association.
On November 16, 2020 at 1:30 pm, the authors will convene a panel at the Tipping Point Conference entitled Connecticut's Eviction Crisis, COVID-19, and Interventions. Register here.
For media inquiries, please contact Erin Kemple, Executive Director of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, at erin@ctfairhousing.org or Elizabeth Rosenthal, Deputy Director of New Haven Legal Assistance Association, at erosenthal@nhlegal.org.
