This is the first article in a two-part series: "Rent Paid, Still Evicted." Today we explore the uptick in no-fault evictions and the impact on renters. Then, we explore solutions. On Friday at 9 a.m., listen to CT Public's Where We Live as we dive into this topic further.
Last fall, Sonsharae Owens was living in a duplex in Hartford's Frog Hollow neighborhood with her family and doing what she loves most: helping her community. She ran the nearby community garden, lived a vegan lifestyle and started a mutual aid drive to get food and diapers to families in need.
Now this 27-year-old community activist lives in a crowded hotel in an industrial park off the highway with her boyfriend and two dogs. Her diet now is canned food and McDonald鈥檚, she鈥檚 stopped running the community garden and has scaled back the mutual aid program.
The $90 a night she and her boyfriend must pay the hotel to stay is a constant struggle 鈥� but she says it鈥檚 her only option to keep a roof over her head.
鈥淥ct. 1 was the end of my lease. An.d [my landlord said], 鈥橧f you guys don鈥檛 leave by Oct 1, I鈥檓 going to file for an eviction,鈥欌�� Owens said. 鈥淭he threat of the eviction, it just made me so anxious.鈥�
This threat came shortly after Owens said she complained about the substandard housing conditions she was paying $900 a month to live in, including having no hot water and rodents everywhere. Rather than fixing the issues, the landlord wanted her out.
鈥淎nd so I just left,鈥� she recalled.
Owens鈥� story is not unique.
The type of eviction Owens was threatened with is often called a 鈥渘o-fault eviction.鈥� Many evictions are filed for missed rent or being a nuisance, but these kinds of evictions typically happen because the lease has expired or the landlord wants the unit back to live in.
And during the pandemic, many more households were served with a no-fault eviction filing, according to an analysis by 黑料新闻 Radio. Before the pandemic, one out of every four people in housing court faced one of these evictions. Now it鈥檚 one in two.
What's driving the uptick in no-fault eviction filings?
If you ask legal aid attorneys representing low-income renters what鈥檚 driving the uptick in no-fault evictions, they鈥檒l tell you that a hot housing market and a loophole in a pandemic-era executive order restricting evictions are to blame.
A now-expired signed by Gov. Ned Lamont required landlords to apply to the state鈥檚 rental assistance program, , before filing to evict someone for missed rent. The goal was to pause evictions for non-payment of rent as the state in federal pandemic rental aid it received.
That program had several barriers. Both housing and landlord advocates have criticized the program for its complicated application process, long payout time frame and, in some cases, not covering all the arrearage.
鈥淟andlords, through their attorneys, believed that if they did a [no-fault expired lease] lapse of time eviction ... they could avoid participating in the Unite CT program,鈥� said Catharine Freeman, a lawyer with 黑料新闻 Legal Services who represents tenants facing evictions in housing court in Waterbury. 鈥淭o me, it seemed like a strategic way to deal quickly with trying to have tenants out.鈥�
Landlords don鈥檛 necessarily disagree.
Bob DeCosmo, president of the 黑料新闻 Property Owners Alliance and the tenant-screening company , said evicting someone because their lease is up is much easier than having to prove the real reason in court. Landlords weren鈥檛 interested in collecting back rent through Unite CT if there were other concerns, he said.
鈥淲hy would you go in and look to collect back rent on someone that鈥檚 causing a nuisance in your building? You just want them out,鈥� DeCosmo said. 鈥淵our obligation is to protect the safety of the other residents, because the good tenants will move quicker than you can get an eviction on a bad tenant."
鈥淣o-fault evictions 鈥� the lapse of time evictions 鈥� [are] an essential tool you have if a tenant is being disruptive in a property,鈥� DeCosmo said. 鈥滱nd other tenants are not always willing to come forward and testify against a tenant that lives in the same building. They rely on the owner to take the matter and dispose of the tenant."
That shouldn鈥檛 come at the expense of stripping the tenant from being able to defend themselves against such accusations, said Erin Kemple, the executive director of the , a nonprofit that fights against housing discrimination.
鈥淟andlords would want you to believe that because it鈥檚 about property rights, then due process should take a back seat. I think it should actually be the opposite, because you鈥檙e taking away someone鈥檚 place to live,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ecause you are impacting not just this person鈥檚 life today, but possibly their ability to get housing in the future. That is the reason why there should be more process, rather than less process.鈥�
While state law forbids landlords from retaliating with an eviction against tenants who complain about their living conditions or protected civil rights, Kemple said that allowing landlords to evict without having cause creates a gaping loophole.
鈥淪o I say to someone, 鈥業 can't believe that you鈥檙e charging more rent because I just had a baby.鈥� And the landlord says, 鈥極K, then I鈥檓 going to evict you because you complained.鈥� The problem is, how do you prove that in court, right?鈥� Kemple said. 鈥淚f the landlord brings a case for no cause, and you go into court and say, 鈥業鈥檓 being evicted because I asserted my fair housing rights or my rights as a tenant,鈥� the landlord says, 鈥楴o, I鈥檓 not evicting you for that. See, it says right here I鈥檓 evicting for no cause.鈥欌��
All this during a tough housing market.
Rents across the state are up 15% year-over-year. And far fewer units are available for rent, according to data tracked by the state comptroller鈥檚 office.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e hearing is that the reason landlords are evicting for no cause is because they believe that they can get more rent. And I think that鈥檚 the majority of what鈥檚 going on,鈥� said Kemple.
Hogwash, says DeCosmo, a longtime landlord himself.
鈥淲hen the tenant moves out, you鈥檙e in there, you鈥檙e changing carpets, replacing cabinets, flooring, painting, locks, repairs, [it costs] thousands of dollars,鈥� said DeCosmo, whose tenant-screening company operates out of Waterbury. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 get up and say, 鈥業鈥檓 going to evict someone today,鈥� because the margins are so close.鈥�
But research from Matthew Desmond, who leads the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, that the profit margins for most landlords are large, especially in poor neighborhoods.
In Waterbury, a high-poverty neighborhood attorney Catharine Freeman works in that had one of the in the country, a growing number of renters face no-fault eviction.
She thinks the influx of newcomers to 黑料新闻's housing market is partially responsible. Concern has been growing among some housing advocates that Wall Street鈥揵acked housing investors are a growing share of the housing stock and .
鈥淚 think that there are new landlords coming into the market, and they want to capitalize on getting what we would say is the 鈥榖est profile tenant鈥� that they could get,鈥� Freeman said. 鈥淥ne way of getting the ideal tenant is getting the old tenant out.鈥�
Burned by a no-fault eviction filing
Few options available in the hot housing market means someone threatened with an eviction often can鈥檛 find anything quick enough. State that landlords give tenants just three days鈥� notice that they want them out before they can file an eviction complaint in court.
Having an eviction on file only makes the housing search that much harder.
鈥淎 lot of our clients haven鈥檛 been able to move, they just are kind of in place,鈥� Freeman said. 鈥淚鈥檝e actually had opposing counsel tell me that they鈥檝e counseled their own clients to say if you have an applicant for housing to not even entertain them if they have any type of legal action pending in court. The doors are closed to them as soon as it鈥檚 discovered that they have a pending eviction.鈥�
Margaret is one of those tenants getting doors closed on her. She鈥檚 asked us to use a different name because she fears retaliation from her landlord, who has a pending no-fault eviction against her.
After this single mother of three complained about her housing conditions 鈥� a constant flooding basement and a broken refrigerator 鈥� she said her landlord filed an eviction against her on the basis that her lease had expired.
鈥淚 pay my rent, I never missed a rent payment and I鈥檝e taken care of her property very well,鈥� she said.
She begged her landlord not to file an eviction. She was trying to find another place for her family to move, but she just needed more time.
If owners are looking me up, they鈥檙e going to see an eviction pending. It鈥檚 messing up everything. [It's] making it harder to get me out of here.Margaret, tenant facing eviction because her lease has expired
鈥淚 said to her, 鈥業f owners are looking me up, they鈥檙e going to see an eviction pending. It鈥檚 messing up everything. And you鈥檙e making it harder to get me out of here,鈥欌�� Margaret said.
Eviction complaints and other related filings can website for years. The branch removes complaints that are withdrawn by the landlord or dismissed by the court between 11 months and a year after. Cases that go to trial and are judged on the merits remain online for three years, even if the tenant wins.
Tenant-screening companies like the one that DeCosmo runs to . Those who purchase this data must sign a promising, among other things, not to disclose criminal records that have been erased or sealed and to use the most updated information on the status of the case.
While eviction filings do not have similar requirements, DeCosmo said TenantTracks does not disclose to landlords running a background check on prospective tenants any outstanding eviction complaints or cases where the tenant is not found at fault.
鈥淭he only evictions that we show as a consumer reporting agency is judgments for plaintiff 鈥� because you don鈥檛 want somebody that may have gone to court and then won the case. And using that, it would be prejudicial to show that eviction,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 my belief that the vast majority of tenant-screening companies do not show records for evictions that went in favor of the defendant, or cases that were withdrawn.鈥�
In a statement, the Judicial Branch said that it 鈥渄oes not have the authority to police the use of data by bulk purchasers鈥� and that the officials there do not believe they have ever reprimanded any tenant-screening company for using the data inappropriately.
鈥淭here's sort of a popular understanding that even a filing or victory for the tenant or the withdrawal by the landlord is sort of an eviction on someone鈥檚 record,鈥� said Giovanna Shay, the litigation and advocacy director at Greater Hartford Legal Aid, a nonprofit whose attorneys represent low-income residents in situations like Margaret鈥檚.
The 黑料新闻 Fair Housing Center that Kemple leads is the nation鈥檚 largest tenant-tracking company, CoreLogic Rental Property Solutions, for what they believe is inappropriately disclosing a shoplifting arrest that was ultimately withdrawn to a landlord. That landlord then declined to allow that prospective tenant to move into their property.
CoreLogic declined CT Public鈥檚 request to be interviewed about how it uses housing court records to help landlords screen prospective tenants.
Not homeless enough for help
The state does have a safety net for some facing homelessness. A referral to those support programs starts by calling 2-1-1, which the state pays United Way to operate.
Data shows that the number of calls from people seeking 鈥渓ow-cost housing鈥� has since the pandemic began.
In February 2020 鈥� the month before the pandemic touched down in 黑料新闻 鈥� there were 3,117 calls to the hotline from people searching for affordable housing compared to 7,820 this past February.
Freeman, the legal aid attorney in Waterbury, said that services available through 2-1-1 are limited because someone must be evicted or already homeless to get help.
鈥淯nfortunately, people can鈥檛 even get those services until they actually go through an eviction and have an execution against them,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o they鈥檙e really running against the clock to figure out where to go and what to do.鈥�
Back in Hartford, Owens says she regularly calls 2-1-1 for help.
Hotel dwellers and the untold others like her who have taken up residence in similar dwellings by the state and are therefore not prioritized for the state鈥檚 vastly oversubscribed housing assistance programs.
So when Owens calls, they tell her if she moves to a shelter, she can then be put in line for subsidized affordable housing.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to live in a shelter. I can鈥檛 bring my dogs to the shelter. And I鈥檓 not getting rid of my dogs,鈥� she said.
So she鈥檒l soon be going on her seventh month at the hotel 鈥� which is costing her more than $2,000 a month. It鈥檚 an arrangement she鈥檚 far from happy with.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the most miserable situation I鈥檝e ever been in. I don鈥檛 want to put the TV too loud or listen to music too loud. It鈥檚 just not my space. So it is weird and uncomfortable,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd also, I can鈥檛 afford it. Sometimes I ask friends for help.鈥�
CT Public Intern Maxwell Zeff contributed to this report.
