Testimony in Support of SB257 An Act Concerning Evictions for Cause
Connecticut General Assembly Housing Committee Hearing
Testimony in Support of SB257 An Act Concerning Evictions for Cause
Representative Felipe, Senator Marx, and members of the Housing Committee:
My name is Melissa Kaplan-Macey and I am the Chief Initiative Officer of the Centers for Housing Opportunity at the Housing Collective, a non-profit organization based in Bridgeport. We support the homeless response system in Western Connecticut as well as regional housing affordability initiatives in Western and Eastern Connecticut.
Our mission is to protect, preserve, and produce housing that is stable and affordable for everyone. We work with landlords and service providers to prevent homelessness, and we work with local officials, community members, organizations, and housing developers to produce housing. We also work with local tenant groups to fight unfair evictions because we recognize that protecting people from being evicted for no reason is one of the easiest ways we can stop people from becoming homeless in the first place.
For all these reasons, we support S.B. 257 An Act Concerning Evictions for Cause. Simply put, it will help people and families across Connecticut sleep better at night knowing they won’t wake up in the morning to find an eviction notice on their door for no reason.
Connecticut has had Just Cause protections in place for over 40 years protecting people over 62 years old and those with a disability. We should expand these protections to all renters. This will help our state get ahead of homelessness, saving the state resources that are necessary to help from spending to support people after they’ve already lost their home. Five states and over two dozen cities have universal Just Cause protections. Studies of places that have had Just Cause policies for more than a decade show a statistically significant drop in displacement, in turn, increasing housing stability.
Without spending one cent, the state can help preserve affordability by keeping more renters in their homes with Just Cause eviction protections. Just Cause, simply put, means that a landlord cannot evict someone for no reason (they must have a “just cause”).
Connecticut does not have nearly enough housing that is affordable, and it is among the worst states in America for renters. As recently as 2024, it was the worst state in America for renters according to Consumer Affairs. Thousands of working families and individuals are one missed paycheck, or one emergency away from losing their home and falling into homelessness.
What if instead of being one of the worst states for renters, Connecticut was one of the best? Connecticut could be a place where all residents have peace of mind and a sense of belonging in their communities. This bill will provide the peace of mind and security that we all deserve by establishing modest, baseline protections for the one third of residents in Connecticut who rent their homes.
We encourage the committee to not only support this bill, but to also strongly consider including in this bill protections for renters who live in buildings with five or fewer units. Thousands of renters in these smaller buildings need security and peace of mind in their homes as much as anyone else. Connecticut should be a place where all residents can rest easy without the fear that they might wake up to a notice to pack their bags and leave. With the housing crisis that our state has on its hands, keeping renters in their homes should be one of our top priorities.
Thank you for the opportunity to present this testimony.
