Housing advocates rally around Niantic tenants facing steep rent increases

East Lyme ― Tenants from 60 apartments rising three stories high against the small-town America backdrop of downtown Niantic are getting help from the outside as they figure out how to remain in their homes despite the threat of rent increases amounting to almost $1,000 a month.

Trina Charles, executive director of Step Up New London, was at the Niantic VFW late last week with doors propped open to let in the sea air and about 70 tenants who were there to find out what their rights were.

Step Up New London, which has built up a base of about 300 people dedicated to housing, education and healthcare justice for Black and Brown families, is a regional leader in tenants rights advocacy.

“We have a whole community who is ready to support you and to rally around you all to help you with this issue,” Charles said.

Windward Village Apartments, at 468 Main St., was purchased by the Shelton-based Alpha Capital Funds real estate investment firm one month ago for $8.4 million, according to the assessor’s database. The company in a social media post predicted the complex would be worth $14 million by the time all the rent increases kick in and improvements to the property are completed.

The tenants whose leases were the first to come up for renewal under new leadership reported rent hikes of between $800 and $900. One disabled tenant who was paying $1,450 said she was first told she had 30 days to move out but was eventually allowed to renew her lease for an additional $800 a month.

Charles said the tenants have the broad support of the housing advocacy community.

“We are going to be the ones that’s going to be standing with you and behind you and helping to be the voice to correct all of this,” she said.

Beth Sabilia, director of the Center for Housing Equity and Opportunity Eastern CT, said the rent problem is widespread in a market where few state laws exist to protect renters from exorbitant rent increases as large equity firms replace small-scale, local landlords.

“Now we’re seeing corporate interests come in and set entire markets,” she said.

She cited similar situations in Groton, where a N.Y.-based real estate company sent out notices to people in duplexes on Ivy Court and in units at the Fieldside Apartments threatening them with eviction after it purchased rental properties for more than $12.9 million. She referenced complaints from new Alpha Capital tenants in New London after the company purchased 45 units on West Street, Greenway Road and Faire Harbour Road last month.

“We as a community need to value each other over the almighty free market,” Sabilia said. “We need to place value on each other, whether we’re on Greenway Road or Windward Village or Ivy Court.”

Sabilia also pointed to 24 units in Hartford that Alpha Capital founder and CEO Tyler Smith said he sold off because taxes spiked after a revaluation and because “tenant quality” was deficient, according to a video posted on social media by the company.

But Sabilia credited organized labor with wearing down the landlords. She said residents there formed a chapter of the Connecticut Tenants Union to help secure negotiating rights with landlords, file collective complaints to the town or state, or call for a rent strike.

“They got tired of dealing with the tenants union, so they sold the building,” she said. “It wasn’t worth it to them anymore.”

Charles said options could range from organizing with the Connecticut Tenants Union to less labor intensive options like holding a sit-in with Step Up New London.

Problem for state to address

Tenant Judith Glickstein at the meeting characterized the issue as a problem to be addressed at the state level.

“If we had stronger, stricter laws, obviously we wouldn’t be in this situation,” she said.

State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, acknowledged the need to continue to update state law with changes like one this year requiring landlords to give tenants with leases at least 45 days of notice ahead of a rent increase, or 30 days if they rent month to month.

A bill that would have extended the limited just cause eviction law to all tenants living in apartment complexes with five units or more did not make it to a vote during the legislative session. The protections, which prevent landlords from raising rent by an unreasonable amount or refusing without good reason to renew a lease for residents, are currently limited to renters who are 62 or older and those with disabilities.

According to the Connecticut Mirror, the bill saw fierce opposition from landlord groups who launched text campaigns and held fundraisers for a super political action committee that can take unlimited contributions to spend on political activity.

Cheeseman said she is not in favor of passing laws to prevent mismanagement by large firms that will end up harming local landlords with a limited portfolio.

“I don’t want a one size fits all solution,” she said. “I want the acknowledgement that there are good landlords out there, particularly smaller ones.”

But she said something needs to be done to address the “egregious treatment” of the tenants in Niantic and New London by Alpha Capital.

“I’ve also reached out to the Attorney General’s office, so this conversation will continue,” she said.

Fair Rent Commission

Tenants on Aug. 7 will ask the Board of Selectmen at its regular meeting to consider creating a Fair Rent Commission. A state law requires cities and towns with more than 25,000 to implement the rental housing oversight mechanism but leaves it option in small municipalities. East Lyme currently has 18,788 residents.

According to an informal poll taken at the meeting by Selectman Don MacKenzie so he could bring the data back to the Board of Selectmen, renters at the complex who pay an average rent now of $1,267 will be looking at a roughly 60% increase when their leases expire.

Twenty-two of the 40 tenants who responded said their leases expire in the last quarter of this year or first quarter of 2025.

Sabilia said its not too late for the creation of the local rental housing oversight agency with the power to investigate complaints, hold hearings, and order landlords to reduce rents for specific reasons.

The town charter empowers selectmen to enact ordinances after a public hearing is held, which must be scheduled to give the public at least 10 days’ notice. An ordinance goes into effect no sooner than 10 days after it’s filed with the Town Clerk.

“If we can get a Fair Rent Commission up and established in the time that these leases are starting to turn over and you’re facing $800, $900 or $1,000 a month increases, you can bring your action to the Fair Rent Commission,” she said.

e.regan@theday.com