Defending Housing Rights in Connecticut

Aug 1

Last updated August 2025

By the end of 2020, the value of residential real estate had surged to an estimated US$258.5 trillion. Housing has become by far the most valuable asset on Earth, worth three times more than global GDP and more than 20 times all the gold ever mined. In the state of Connecticut, the average rent has risen by 20% between 2020 and 2022, with more than half of Connecticut renters paying more than 30% of their paycheck toward rent. Landlords also single out and harass tenants like Jeanette, a tenant organized within Connecticut Tenant Union (CTTU), to force them to accept dirty and damaged appliances because they have a government housing voucher. Property managers refuse to address cockroach problems to the point that tenants like Rosa, another tenant organized with CTTU, have to keep their sink running 24/7 to stop bugs from crawling on their kitchen counters. On top of these problems, tenants like Ed have been evicted from their homes in order for their landlord to renovate the property and raise the rent by several hundred dollars per month. These tenants are organizing and fighting for dignified housing right here at home.

In Summer 2025, students worked together with tenant leaders to collect written/photographic/audio/video testimonies from tenants as part of a push to support CTTU’s campaign for stronger eviction protections. Support has included co-creating a communication strategy, as well as in-field capacity building on real-time, tenant-driven documentation methods. UNHR also produced short videos and recorded testimonies from tenants; drafted and sent letters of concern to landlords; and participated in direct actions.

In February 2024, the University Network for Human Rights published an open letter in support of the Cargill Tenants Union and the tenants at The Lofts at Cargill Falls in Putnam, Connecticut. These residents have been organizing to address extreme health and safety hazards. In collaboration with these communities, UNHR demanded that landlord and property management companies uphold the human right to adequate and safe housing and address the tenant union’s concerns. The tenant union's organizing ensured that no tenants were forcibly evicted. They were each given the option to either keep six months of withheld rent or sign a re-negotiated lease. The union remediated the complex for future tenants, and their actions pushed the EPA to issue an administrative order against their landlord.