GROTON, Conn. — For dozens of families who live along Ivy Court in Groton, the future is uncertain. Earlier this year, a New York-based company, Up Realty, which has offices in Connecticut, bought the land the rental homes sit on.
In March, dozens of long-time residents were notified their leases were not being renewed. Tenants said the company sent them a letter saying they had 30 days to move out or face eviction.
“Each one of those houses on Ivy court has three or four children in there, they have elders in there people in their sixties and seventies, people from 8 to 80, everyone is affected,” said Gregory Edwards, who lives on the street and now has to find a place to live.
One of Edwards' neighbors described the moment her family was given the letter.
“Of course, we were in a tizzy like where am I going? We've been here for eight years, my kids go to school at the Groton school systems, and we were just in shock,” said Fatiema Alers.
The thirty-day grace period ends Tuesday, leaving many scrambling for more time and trying to find affordable housing.
“Groton needs affordable housing. There isn't any in the search these last couple of weeks, there are none,” said Alers.
Some town leaders say this has them wondering what could be done at the local level.
“We're looking at ways as a town to maybe enact if an ordinance is possible. I'm not sure I'm doing more research, but a way that we can say that you need at least a 90 day notice a 30 day notice to get out of what isn't affordable housing, to find affordable housing when there's not any is not enough time,” said Portia Bordelon, a Groton town councilor.
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Tenant advocates say this type of eviction is a growing trend in the state that largely impacts people of color.
“We’ve seen it in other parts of the country and now it's really coming home to Connecticut, a process of gentrification where, you know, historically Black and brown neighborhoods are being displaced. People are being forced out of their own hometowns in order to bring in higher income and higher paying renters and also just to take advantage of the extremely tight rental market that all renters in the state are facing,” said Luke Melonakos-Harrison with CT Tenants Union.
Over the weekend tenants rallied, calling for lawmakers to pass a bill that would strengthen protections and prevent evictions like this in the state.
“Connecticut currently protects a small number of tenants from this kind of forced displacement through our current just cause laws but most of us are vulnerable to this kind of sudden uprooting of our lives and being pushed out of our neighborhoods through no fault evictions,” said Melonakos-Harrison.
State lawmakers have just days to pass Senate Bill 143 it as this year’s legislative session ends May 8.
A comment from Up Realty LLC was not immediately made available upon request.
Jake Garcia is a multimedia journalist for FOX61 News. He can be reached at jgarcia@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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