Imagine it’s nighttime. The children have washed their faces, brushed their teeth, and been snugly tucked into their beds. Perhaps their favorite stuffed toy rests beside them. Now imagine, in the silent of the night they hear the sounds of rodents scratching their way through the walls. Their blankets ruffle under the clawed feet of mice that scurry across their beds, or worse, they wake to fresh bites on their body. This nightmare, CAC discovered, was the daily reality of many children living in HUD-funded, slumlord owned apartments. CAC organizers and a new cohort of community leaders sprang into action, consequently running two more slumlords out of Hartford!
In 2017, CAC launched the No More Slumlords campaign with resident leaders from the Clay Arsenal Renaissance Apartments, owned by infamous slumlord Emmanuel Ku. Over the course of a year, CAC effectively helped resident leaders get HUD to pull Ku’s subsidy and successfully secure mobile vouchers for residents to move to better housing.
The impact of the No More Slumlords Campaign caught the attention of residents from Barbour Gardens and Infill Apartments. These apartment complexes suffered from severe rodent and pest infestations, widespread mold, and other health and safety violations.
Barbour Gardens Apartments, located on Barbour Street in Hartford’s North End neighborhood, is an 84unit HUD-subsidized project-based housing complex. Despite the horrid conditions, Barbour Gardens, owned by Adar Hartford Realty, dubiously passed inspection with a score of 81 out of 100 in February 2018, only to fail the Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) inspection six months later with a more realistic but abysmal 9 out of 100 points.
Just down the street from Barbour Gardens is Infill Apartments, a 52unit complex owned by Eli Fish. Although Fish received nearly $1.5 million in subsidies in the last two years, the property failed inspection with a score of 27 out of 100 points.
The horrid conditions of these apartments were due to over a decade worth of neglect, yet the apartments were passing inspections before attention from the No More Slumlords campaign. With input from CAC, ProPublica and NBC Nightly News launched investigations into HUD’s flawed inspection system and brought national attention to duplicitous tactics used by inspectors.
On Feb 1, Congressman John Larson and Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal wrote a letter to HUD Secretary, Dr. Benjamin Carson “with frustration and alarm regarding the Department’s response to decrepit housing conditions in Hartford, Connecticut.” They wrote, “Given the broad enforcement powers at the Department’s disposal, we find the failure to fully and promptly exercise those powers to address the deplorable conditions at the Infill Apartments and Barbour Gardens at best troubling and at worst inexcusable.” Upon touring the apartments firsthand, Senator Blumenthal called the conditions of the property “criminal, illicit, and unforgiveable.”
On February 14, resident leaders held a public action at Urban Hope Refuge Church – pastored by Rev. AJ Johnson, CAC Organizer – to demand from HUD mobile vouchers for immediate relocation. The night before the action, HUD released a public statement granting relocation to the residents! Mayor Bronin praised CAC for empowering residents. “As a city we are grateful to the Christian Activities Council,” said Bronin, “for empowering, partnering with our residents so that they can be so effective in pushing HUD to do the right thing.”
Residents Lead, Not Ideologues!
Too often, low-income families of color find themselves faced with limited options: either move out of their community into unwelcoming, primarily white communities where racism is palpable, or remain quarantined in neighborhoods marred by years of disinvestment and neglect due to legacies of redlining and other racist housing policy.
What is needed – and what CAC is doing – is to prioritize the voices and experiences of those who bear the brunt of housing decisions and policies but traditionally have little to no input. What do people who rely on housing subsidies want? Where do they want to live? What do they want for the neighborhoods they call home? The No More Slumlords organizing campaign has forced policy makers, housing developers, and politicians to be in relationship with the people they claim to serve.
It is an important and great victory to put individual slumlords out of business and have residents relocated to better housing; however, this will be just a Band-Aid approach if we stop here. In the coming year, we will work with leaders and legislatures to get a law passed to hold limited liability corporations more accountable. We will also work with resident and City leaders to revise Hartford’s outdated housing code and enforcement practices. Our goal is to organize for lasting, systemic solutions to these issues.
The fight against slumlords has been arduous, but also extremely rewarding to help these mothers reclaim their power! We are thankful for clergy allies from the Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance, the help of Open Communities Alliance, CT Fair Housing, Hartford Legal Aid, and all of our volunteers and donors who support CAC’s organizing efforts.
