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APARTMENT tenants have fought back and won after their landlord tried to evict them in what they believe to be a money-making game.
In late August, members of the Blake Street Tenants Union at Elizabeth Apartments in New Haven, Connecticut rallied against mass eviction notices given by their property management company.
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“I think it’s disgusting that my landlord, who is not from here and who doesn’t live here, is treating people’s dignity, stability and security like it’s a game to make money,” the vice president of the tenant’s union, Sarah Giovanniello told local NBC affiliate WVIT.
A total of 16 families were given eviction notices after tenants tried to fight against a potential rent spike.
It’s unacceptable, we won’t have it,” local Alder Brian Wingate told the outlet.
The eviction notices from the tenants’ mega landlord, Ocean Management, said that their leases expired and that the landlord did not want to renew them.
Tenants were on month-to-month leases after Ocean Management took over the property two years ago, according to the New Haven Independent.
However, the union claimed that the lapse-of-time eviction notices were really an act of retaliation against tenants for rallying against the possible rent increase, the outlet reports.
In June, the landlord told some tenants that their rent would increase up to 30 percent, the Yale Daily News reports.
Ocean Management ended up signing a memorandum of understanding with the Blake Street Tenants Union on September 1, rescinding the 16 eviction notices and promising to not give out lapse-of-time eviction notices for at least three months.
In exchange, union members would withdraw a lawsuit and fair rent complaint that they filed against the company.
During this 90-day period, the union also cannot take any new civil actions against the management company while the two negotiate rent and leases, as well as property conditions.
“I was incredibly anxious, I was having panic attacks, I broke out in hives,” tenant Jessica Stamp recalled of the time when the evictions were still pending.
She added: “I was having a hard time sleeping not just because I was concerned for myself, but because I felt the weight of fifteen other people who were involved and upset.”
“I wanted to give them assurance, but there was nothing to assure them with,” Stamp said.
Housing organizer Luke Melanakos-Harrison believes that winning this fight shows how effective tenants unions can be.
“We’ve sent a pretty powerful message to both landlords and tenants across the state that wielding eviction as a form of retaliation is not gonna be tolerated and it’s not gonna be met without a fight,” Melanakos-Harrison said.
The management company, however, denied that the notices were given in retaliation against tenants.
“Ocean Management by no means took a ‘retaliatory’ action, and does not view the situation in terms of ‘wins’ and losses,’” company representative Yohay Levram told the Independent.
“It is unfortunate that the union chooses to use such terminology, as unnecessary rhetoric jeopardizes the honest attempts made by Ocean Management to resolve the matter without resorting to legal action.”
The U.S. Sun approached Ocean Management for comment.
