NEW HAVEN, Conn. — An ongoing battle between a group of tenants and a landlord in New Haven continued on Wednesday after several tenants came home to a sudden eviction notice on Saturday.
The landlord, Shmuel Aizenberg, was cited for numerous code violations by the city.
"It’s an abuse of power. It’s an unbalance of power between tenants and landlords in the state," said CT Tenants Union Vice President Luke Melonakos-Harrison.
The tenants' eviction notices stated they must leave on or before September 1 and if they do not, eviction proceedings will continue. It did not, however, state a reason for the eviction.
Jessica Stamp was one of the 15 tenants who received it.
"Fear to anger to helplessness to hopelessness. It was a day of rollercoaster feelings," said Blake Street Tenants Union Steward Jessica Stamp.
Stamp later met with Aizenberg as well as the property manager to discuss the notice she received, but no resolution was ever reached.
The office of Ocean Management had no clear signage outside of their office but rather, had a sign posted on the door which stated visitors would be turned away unless they had an appointment or a court order.
"Ocean Management, Eizenberg and Yochai, the property manager, they are bullies. This is the emotion they wanted to get from us," added Stamp.
While not all tenants received an eviction notice, they received a notice stating something else - their rent would go up.
"Rent eats up half our paycheck where mice bite our children, where repairs are never made while the rent goes up and up and up," said CT Tenants Union President Hannah Srajer.
This came after Aizenberg appeared in court numerous times for code violations and owed the city thousands of dollars.
FOX61 reached out to Ocean Management and in a statement, they said:
"Rents for existing tenants have not increased since before Covid despite sharp inflation, and are substantially below market rents. We met in good faith 3 times with the representatives in an attempt to accommodate, and even expressed our intention to make exceptions in some cases with specific financial needs."
Mayor Justin Elicker urged Ocean Management to change their minds and supported the tenants' petition posted on the office door.
"It’s a lot easier to just sit down and negotiate, pull back the evictions and do what’s right. Today we want to see Ocean do what’s right," said Mayor Elicker of the City of New Haven.
The union hoped Ocean Management would respond to their petition by meeting again at 9 a.m.
If they do not respond, the union said they will escalate this to a legal level through public pressure.
There will also be a planned protest next Wednesday at 6 p.m. starting at New Haven City Hall.
Carmen Chau is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at cchau@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook and X.
---
Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com
----
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.