DISCRIMINATORY ACTIONS BY TOWN OFFICIALS WILL COST CROMWELL $5 MILLON

On Friday, October 15, 2021, a federal jury found the town of Cromwell liable for the discriminatory behavior that forced the closure of a home for adults with disabilities in 2015. The jury awarded the group home provider, Gilead Community Services, $5 million in punitive damages and $181,000 in compensatory damages, sending a clear message to town officials that their actions violated federal civil rights laws.

In 2015, Gilead Community Services purchased a single-family home on Reiman Drive in Cromwell to serve as a community-based residence for six men with mental health disabilities. In response to the purchase, city officials in Cromwell staged a battle against Gilead and their clients through a series of overtly discriminatory actions making it clear that individuals with disabilities were not welcome.

Cromwell officials began their public attack during a forum about Gilead’s planned operations for 5 Reiman Drive, which gave town residents the opportunity to spew hatred and discrimination. The next day, Cromwell issued a press release asking Gilead to relocate the home. Then Cromwell petitioned the Department of Public Health to deny Gilead the ability to operate. When these strategies were unsuccessful, Cromwell wrongly issued a cease-and-desist order and refused to grant Gilead tax-exempt status as it had in the past. The actions of the Town of Cromwell caused Gilead to close the home.

“However, the true victims, the six men who only wanted housing free from discrimination, will likely never return to Cromwell, and now live with the understanding that because of their disabilities they are not welcome in all communities.”

Erin kemple, Executive Director for the Connecticut Fair Housing Center

“By making such a large punitive damages award, the jury recognized and rejected the intentional, illegal acts of town officials. I hope this serves as a message to other municipalities that they cannot refuse to allow people with disabilities to move into their communities,” said Erin Kemple, Executive Director of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, one of the co-plaintiffs in the case. “However, the true victims, the six men who only wanted housing free from discrimination, will likely never return to Cromwell, and now live with the understanding that because of their disabilities they are not welcome in all communities.”

In 2017, the Connecticut Fair Housing Center and Gilead Community Services, represented by Washington, D.C. firm Relman Colfax, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Town of Cromwell. The case claimed that the intentional discriminatory actions of town officials in Cromwell violated the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

TRHAP: Media Outreach Kit

Social Media Outreach Toolkit

Purpose: Increase Access to Connecticut’s Temporary Rental Housing Assistance Program (TRHAP)

In Connecticut, Black and Latinx households have been hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. They have greater rates of infection, job loss, and housing instability. Systemic discriminatory housing policies mean that families who rent their homes are overwhelmingly people of color. In last week’s Pulse Census Survey, 40% of African American households in Connecticut reported that they had little to no confidence in being able to pay next month’s rent. Outreach to Black and Latinx communities about the State’s rental relief program needs to increase, especially as more funds become available.

Below are social media images and statements we hope individuals and organizations will share on their channels and with their constituencies to increase access to the program for households with limited English, and lower income households with limited political connections.

Applicable links

English only online application for TRHAP: http://bit.ly/TRHAPApp

Longer CHFA URL: https://www.chfa.org/homeowners/state-of-connecticut-temporary-rental-housing-assistance-program-trhap/

FAQ guidance about TRHAP in 10 languages: http://bit.ly/TRHAPmultilanguage

Longer URL: https://www.ctfairhousing.org/connecticut-trhap/

Facebook

English

Do you need help paying your rent because of COVID-19? The State’s rental assistance program is still accepting applications. Please call (860) 785-3111 or go to http://bit.ly/TRHAPApp to apply.

If you have any questions about the program or need materials in languages other than English please visit our website at http://bit.ly/TRHAPmultilanguage

Spanish

¿Necesita ayuda para pagar el alquiler debido a COVID-19? El programa estatal de asistencia para el alquiler todavía está aceptando solicitudes. Llame al (860) 785-3111 o visite http://bit.ly/TRHAPApp para presentar su solicitud.

Si tiene alguna pregunta sobre el programa o necesita materiales en otros idiomas además del inglés, visite nuestro sitio web en http://bit.ly/TRHAPmultilanguage

Twitter

Spanish

¿Necesita ayuda para pagar el alquiler debido a COVID-19? El programa estatal de asistencia para el alquiler todavía está aceptando solicitudes. Visite http://bit.ly/TRHAPApp

Twitter 

English

Do you need help paying your rent because of COVID-19? The State’s rental assistance program is still accepting applications. Visit http://bit.ly/TRHAPApp

 

We’re Hiring an Education & Outreach Coordinator

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
COMMUNITY EDUCATION & OUTREACH COORDINATOR

Position Details:
The Connecticut Fair Housing Center seeks an innovative, energetic, and experienced
Community Education and Outreach Coordinator. This position will work closely with all staff,
and will be primarily responsible for organizing community-based legal education projects that
train and empower residents to assert their fair housing rights, building and maintaining
relationships with key allies and partners across the state, disseminating information about fair
housing and the work of the Center, and developing and implementing strategies to ensure that
the Center’s work is responsive to the concerns of target communities.
Specific Responsibilities Include:
• Coordinating community education projects including the development, marketing, and
delivery of fair housing trainings for the general public, community organizations, social
service agencies that work with those protected by the fair housing laws, and other target
populations;
• Building and maintaining new and existing partnerships with organizations working on
issues facing our clients, including tenants’ associations, grassroots community groups,
social services providers, advocacy organizations, and others;
• Building coalitions with other organizations to advocate for racial and economic justice,
homeowners’ and renters’ rights, disability rights, LGBTQIA+ equality, and other
transformative objectives;
• Attending community meetings and other public events to build relationships, raise the
Center’s profile and gather information about issues that may have fair housing implications;
• Soliciting input and feedback from community members, partner organizations, and former
clients to inform the Center’s work;
• Expanding the audience for the Center’s written materials;
• Seeking new ways to coordinate outreach and education between all staff members and
engage other staff in outreach and education efforts;
• Taking on other duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Executive Director.

Qualifications:
• Either a BA degree and 2 years of experience in community outreach, advocacy, training,
education, community organizing, or related field OR, AA degree, and 4 years of directly
related experience;
• Exceptional interpersonal skills; proven ability to cultivate relationships with and establish
networks among a diverse set of stakeholders, including clients, partner organizations,
community groups, etc.;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; public speaking/training experience
strongly preferred;
• Demonstrated interest in and passion for combating housing discrimination or other civil
rights violations, or related issues;
• Ability to work independently and take initiative;
• Ability to collaborate well with others;
• Proficient in Word and Excel; experience with other relevant software programs and with
managing social media accounts and/or websites helpful.
• Bi-lingual and/or bi-cultural individuals are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Must be willing and able to travel throughout CT for meetings, trainings, and other events
(mileage reimbursed).

Salary: Salary is highly competitive with other legal non-profits, with comprehensive benefit
package including exceptional health care, flex scheduling, and substantial paid leave.
$45,000 – $55,200 DOE.
Send resume and cover letter to: Letty Ortiz, Administrative Assistant at
letty@ctfairhousing.org. Please include a writing sample that reflects the applicant’s own work
without significant revision from others as well as the names and addresses of people who can
act as references. Please do not call.

Application Deadline: June 21, 2019
About Connecticut Fair Housing Center
The Connecticut Fair Housing Center is an equal opportunity employer.

Center, DOH hosting forums to present study on Mixed Populations in Housing

Myth vs. Reality: Mixed Populations in State-Funded Elderly/Disabled Housing, presenting a study by CT Fair Housing and the CT Department of Housing. Join us at upcoming forums in East Haven, Hartford, and Darien. Click on slider to learn more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2017, the CT State Legislature requested a study of state-funded housing complexes that provide housing to both elderly tenants and younger tenants with disabilities.  The Center is partnering with the Connecticut Department of Housing to host three community forums around the state to present the findings of this study, separate myth from reality, identify best practices for handling areas of conflict, and discuss recommendations to ensure that state-funded elderly/disabled housing is available to all those who need it.

Join us at a forum near you:

East Haven
Tuesday, December 4th, 1-3pm at Hagaman Memorial Library (DeMayo Room) 227 Main Street, East Haven.  Limited parking is available in the library lot; additional parking is available on the street or in the adjacent Stop n’ Shop lot (please follow all signage).

Hartford
Thursday, December 6th, 10am-12pm at the Legislative Office Building – Hearing Room 1B

Darien
Friday, December 7th, 1-3pm – Darien Library (Louise Parker Berry Community Room), 1441 Post Road, Darien

Copies of the report will be distributed at each forum.  There will be time set aside for public comment at each event.  All locations are accessible.  Light refreshments will be provided in East Haven and Darien.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER 

Read Full Report: A Study of Tenants in State-Funded Elderly/Disabled Housing  
View Report Appendices

Coded Language in Response to Affordable Housing Bill

I was driving home and listening to our state legislators debate an additional amendment to H.B. 5045, An Act Establishing Accountability for Fair and Affordable Housing through Zoning Regulations, and what I heard made my heart sink.

The bill was proposed by the Fair Housing Working Group, a bipartisan group of legislators, housing and land use policy experts, fair housing advocates (including our Executive Director), and developers formed last fall under the leadership of CT Dept. of Housing Commissioner Evonne Klein.

The bill’s original intention was to enforce current state law which requires every municipality to permit the development of multifamily housing to help integrate our neighborhoods. Currently, twenty municipalities in Connecticut do not permit any multifamily housing anywhere in their towns.  Arguably, many more have a written provision for inclusion, but often any proposed multifamily development never materializes past the planning stage, unable to get planning and zoning approval.  All of the towns without multifamily zones are disproportionately White.

The bill does not require towns to develop multifamily housing, and it does not even require any multifamily housing developed to be deed restricted as affordable. The bill only requires municipalities to include provisions for multifamily housing (either by right or special permitting process) – something that has already been a requirement for twenty-five years!

However, the law currently on the books has no real consequences for municipalities that choose not to comply.  The main difference in this new bill would have been the inclusion of an enforcement measure: towns who do not allow multifamily housing development could lose state discretionary funding.

Unfortunately, long before the vote, the debate was already focused on the removal of any such enforcement measure.

One representative described the bill as “draconian,” while another explained that the bill “would make it impossible to maintain the character of his town.” Given that multifamily housing is the least expensive way of promoting integration, it is clear that there is limited political will to move in this direction. The debate on H.B. 5054 suggests that some Connecticut leaders believe that making all 169 municipalities in our state available to everyone is a cruel directive to impose on the communities that have ignored the current law for twenty-five years. It suggests that rural areas should only be made available to individuals and families who have the economic means to purchase homes, and that the preferred “character” of these communities means excluding diversity.

I often say that we need to remember that people write policy, and that policy does not write itself.  People make decisions that determine how we develop Connecticut, and the debate among our state representatives was extremely disheartening, and clearly indicated why we remain an extremely segregated state.

New Display at the Capitol Highlights Fair Housing Milestones

Posters about Fair Housing on the wall at the Legislative Office Building

Every April, in honor of Fair Housing Month, the Center curates a display about fair housing for Connecticut’s Legislative Office Building to educate legislators, staff, and the many advocates, students, and visitors who pass through the Capitol buildings on a daily basis.

 

 

Because 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, we decided that this year’s display would focus on the significance of this seminal piece of legislation, highlighting the events that led to its passage as well as some events that have occurred since Lyndon B. Johnson signed it into law back on April 11, 1968.  We created a timeline covering 100 years of history to explain how policies and seminal court decisions created and maintain the segregated neighborhoods we see across Connecticut today.

 

For example, you may know that the 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (better known as the G.I. Bill) helped to create the largest middle class in the nation’s history after World War II.  This legislation helped millions of returning veterans attend college and buy homes, building wealth that would be passed down to future generations.

Posters about fair housing history at the Legislative Office Building concourse

However, many people don’t realize that African-American veterans were left out of the bill’s most powerful benefits.  While White veterans took advantage of new low-interest mortgage loans to buy homes in the growing suburbs, many Black veterans were unable to obtain mortgages because banks wouldn’t lend to them or underwrite loans in non-white neighborhoods, a practice called redlining that was backed by the federal government.  In fact, banks even refused to lend to White families who wanted to buy homes in diverse neighborhoods.  Black veterans who could obtain mortgages were often blocked from buying in white neighborhoods because of racially restrictive covenants, racial steering by real estate agents, and other discriminatory practices.

The rest of the display highlights similar policies, practices, and court cases that shaped neighborhoods in Connecticut and across the country – for better or for worse – all the way up to the present day.

 

Congratulations to our 2018 Student Poster Contest Finalists!

The display also includes a look at the future of fair housing from the finalists of our annual Fair Housing Poster Contest. Students in 6th – 12th grades from schools across Connecticut submitted artwork that reflected this year’s theme: Choice. Mobility. Equity.  Their artwork is fantastic!   This year’s finalists are:6 colorful posters, finalists in the Fair Housing poster contest, hanging on a wall in the Legislative Office Building

Joe Barberi, Norwich Technical High School

Ashley Edmund, Norwich Technical High School

Dewlys Maldondo, Hartford Trinity College Academy

Outdam Nuon, Norwich Technical High School

Marysabel Rivera, Connecticut River Academy

Yeji Yang, Northwest Catholic High School

 

The winners will be announced at the end of April.

The Center’s Fair Housing Month display can be viewed on the Lower Concourse between the Capitol and the LOB now through April 13th.  If you find yourself in Hartford, we encourage you to stop by and take a look!

Want more Fair Housing history?  Check out the National Fair Housing Alliance’s interactive 50th anniversary timeline of the Fair Housing Act.  Interested in what happened closer to home?  Find out about the Center’s Fair Housing Tour of Hartford!

 

Join us for the 39th Annual FHACt Conference!

Fair Housing Association of CT LogoThe Fair Housing Association of Connecticut (FHACt)’s 39th annual Fair Housing Conference is set for April 26th in Rocky Hill.  The 2018 Conference will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, discuss the issues of the day, and reinvigorate us as we look ahead.

The event will include a screening of “A House Divided,” the episode from last year’s acclaimed America Divided series exploring housing discrimination, segregation, and fair housing enforcement in New York City.   Following the screening, the Center will present on some of our recent fair housing testing results and other research to reveal what these issues look like here in Connecticut. The Center will then join staff from the CT Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities (CHRO) in facilitating an interactive exercise on using the concepts from “A House Divided” to spur action.

The conference’s keynote speaker will be Debby Goldberg from the National Fair Housing Alliance, and the day will conclude with a presentation on housing for formerly incarcerated people by “The Real Women of Orange is the New Black.”  It should be a powerful day of learning and inspiration for all of us who are committed to fair housing in Connecticut.

We hope to see you on April 26th!

Click here to see full details and learn how to register for the 2018 FHACt Conference.

 

An Accidental Jump into New London’s History

When I first met Laura Natusch, the Executive Director of New London Landmarks, I did not expect that agreeing to collaborate on a fair housing history project would literally take me all over the city of New London, Connecticut. We have done important (and fun) work

Flyer for educational event on New London's Lost Neighborhood, set for April 10th at 7pm at Mount Moriah Church in New London, CT.uncovering missing streets, and unearthing historic pictures and maps of this small Whaling City that rests on Long Island Sound.

In 1962, the City of New London passed a referendum to begin the Winthrop Cove Urban Renewal project. While some urban renewal projects are well documented and widely known, this specific slum removal plan is not. And because every untold story needs a voice, Laura and I went exploring to figure out how the built environment changed as a result of the Winthrop Cove Urban Renewal project, and how discrimination played a role.

1962 New London City Council meeting minutes

1962 New London City Council minutes.

The project found us deep in the dusty stacks of New London’s City Hall and reviewing months of microfilm at the City library. We have read old City Council minutes and walked the City to figure out exactly where the project took place and imagine what was lost. Volunteers and retired librarians have stepped in to help us, and every new finding feels kind of like the excitement of anticipating the next firework during a fourth of July display.

We can’t wait to share what we have learned and uncovered!

Please join the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, New London Landmarks, and our guest speaker Lonnie Braxton, former President of the NAACP New London Chapter, for a free educational event that will tell the story of how decades of discriminatory policies led to the divestment of one neighborhood, and how “urban renewal” removed it from the maps:

Discrimination, Urban Renewal, and New London’s Lost Neighborhood

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Mount Moriah Church, 22 Moore Ave. New London, CT

7:00pm – 8:30pm

Refreshments from Washington Street Coffee House will be provided!

Community Research on Eviction

Trinity College’s new Liberal Arts Action Lab at 10 Constitution Plaza, Hartford.  Photo retrieved from: http://commons.trincoll.edu/action-lab/transportation/

Research shows that people of color, women, and families with children are disproportionately impacted by eviction.  The Center’s Staff Attorney Salmun Kazerounian and Education & Outreach Coordinator Fionnuala Darby-Hudgens are working with students from Trinity College and Capital Community College at the Liberal Arts Action Lab to investigate the effects of eviction on residents of the greater Hartford area.

Inspired by the book Evicted by Matthew Desmond, the Center hopes to develop a greater understanding of who is most affected by eviction and how Connecticut families cope after an eviction.

Facing Eviction or Need Housing in Connecticut?

Connecticut Legal Services

Connecticut 2-1-1

 

Additional Research on Eviction:

Evicting Children

Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty, by Matthew Desmond

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