Okay.

Okay.

So we are live on HPA TV, so I'm gonna get the meeting started.

So good evening and welcome to this virtual public hearing on Tuesday, January twentieth, twenty twenty six.

The hearing is being broadcast live on HPA TV or on Channel 96 for Comcast Xfinity Customers and 6032 for Frontier.

It would also be streamed via HPA HPATV.org, HBA TV Facebook page, and HBA TV Ruku TV, Apple TV, Amazon TV apps.

It would also then be rebroadcast and made available on HPA TV YouTube channel.

I'm now calling to order this public hearing.

I'm chairing uh the public hearing, and we have Councilman uh John Gale and Councilman Um Josh Mitchum in the chambers.

So again, good evening, everyone.

Let me read a few housekeeping uh public hearing procedures for everyone.

Each person wishing to address the counselor presenting the public hearing, therefore shall upon recognition by the presiding officer, Councilman Surgeon, the chair, give his or her name, address, and if she or her, if she or him represents a group, shall it shall in addition state for the record the name and the address of said group or organization and shall limit his or her remarks to five minutes.

When we have one minute left in the five minutes uh you have to uh state your public uh comment of the public hearing.

Uh any person uh making personal impertinent or slander marks or who shall become voice to us while addressing the council shall be barred by the council presiding officer and from further audience um in this meeting.

There shall be no debate of by the council, although questions may be asked by the council person uh making such presentations.

We have one item.

Uh let me also state that um councilman uh Alex make sure I've got all my notes here.

Um joining the public hearing is Councilman Alex Thomas also is at the public hearing.

Uh Councilman Gail, if you would do me the favor and keep track of the five minutes timing, I would appreciate any assistance you can be.

So there is one item on the agenda tonight, uh, and that is an ordinance by council member Josh Mitchum amending uh chapter 18, Article 6, Section 18-10 of the municipal code of Hartford to provide adequate relocation services to displaced tenant.

And what I'm gonna do is um the ones who have signed up, I was told that they are in favor of the ordinance, and I will go down the list, and after I uh the ones who are in favor of the ordinance has been testified, I will ask three times again at the end of um the testimony and ask if there's anyone um that is against the ordinance to testify.

So the first person on the list um to testify is Victor Availa.

Do we have Victor here?

Ah, here he is.

One second.

I'm just here for interpretation.

And Victor, you've got five minutes, and um we'll let you know when to summarize at the last minute of your testimony.

Yes, it echoed, and now we can do it.

We'll do it on mine so there's no echo.

Okay.

So we're we're I'm here testifying again about the incident that had happened on Weathersfield Avenue three or four months ago.

Sinceramente los dueño no Sancho Rembrandt deposito.

And all really just asking for help, sincerely, because the owners, the landlords haven't paid us back our deposit.

And asking for a lay for a law that would be able to help the community, help more anyone in the community who suffers this kind of situation.

And we've been fighting already, we've been fighting for three years with this landlord.

And if you I mean if you go back and look at the records, you'll see that there were a lot of failures of maintenance.

And what we still can't figure out couldn't do anything, couldn't take any action with all of those fines that were imposed on this landlord.

Because maybe that way you know we could have avoided this having this fire breakout that affected these apartments.

And then in that way, avoid that so many of us, these families should have been uh displaced from our housing, which is where we're still at right now.

Sinceramente.

And so they you know they they put us in hotels, but the hotels where they put us were sincerely they were they were not adequate.

And we're all still still battling to try to find housing because they they gave us the hotel for three months, but you know, it's just really hard to find an apartment right now.

But so to get an apartment, obviously they ask for um three months between deposit and first and last.

Sinceramente those loss apartments son led us for mantanelos.

And the the truth is that all you know, all these apartments these are these are people who are not doing good upkeep, not maintaining them well.

And so this the reason we all came here together today is because we need a fair fair housing, uh, not just for me, but for everyone who's in need um to have adequate housing.

And as I said, like we it's three long years that we have come along fighting against the same landlord.

And throughout that, he never really um he never really respected and addressed what we had brought up.

Sorry, so we put it in your hands so that you can help us.

Um, Mr.

Vela.

I do see that um uh councilman Billadu is also a representative at the public hearing, is also joined us.

Uh next to speak would be um one Mendez.

You don't need Mr.

Mendes.

I can't can't hear Mendez.

Were you not hearing that?

Okay, no, we did not, so you have to start over again.

Yes, sir.

Please go right ahead.

Um, good evening, uh everyone on the call.

Um, my name is Ramon.

I'm speaking on behalf of Juana Mendez, who wasn't able to make it uh today.

The victims of the fire at 271 Weathersfield dive.

It's unfair to have been left homeless to have lost everything I worked so hard for.

Many single mothers lived in this building, and we were all up to date on our rent.

We had exhausting schedules, only another single mother with with an absent father could understand the children to school and go to work, and then on October 30th, in the blink of an eye, we lost everything.

No clothes, no shoes, nothing.

Luckily, we are still alive.

I lived on the third floor, and I thought I would never see my daughter again.

It's stressful not knowing what to do and trying to maintain our composure and mental health for our children, and as time goes by, we continue to experience things we previously avoided, like our children living in a hotel where we don't have kitchens to provide healthy meals for.

Now we find ourselves in a situation where if we don't have the money to pay the security deposit and the first month's rent, the city will delay paying the new landlords.

The city needs to be more efficient so that we can find a clean and safe place to live.

The city needs to have a system that streamlines the procedures.

We don't understand why the money isn't given directly to the families, but only to the landlords, as if we don't know how to manage our own money.

With this ordinance, at least it'll prevent other people from going through the city's poor organization to make these events less traumatic.

The money I earn because I haven't stopped working, is to replace everything we've lost.

And the city should be working for us, not for the corporate landlords who are causing so many families to be homeless right now.

The mayor and the entire city council should be looking out for our interest because we are 75% of the taxpayers in this city.

Not only having to find the time to go out and look while still working, but also finding a place that's safe, clean, and above all, on the first floor.

I never thought that having gone through this experience could cause me trauma that I didn't recognize until a few days ago when I went to see an apartment and started checking if the windows open and if there was a door that would quickly leave me outside.

Maybe I didn't realize how much it has affected me because that's what we have for now.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, um, Ramon.

So let me remind the next everyone that's coming up.

I need to state your name and your address um for us.

Uh next speaker is uh Martin Puentes.

Martin couldn't join us.

Hello.

Um, Martin couldn't join us.

So you can go to the next person.

Okay, go to the next person.

Okay.

Um, how about um Ryan Payor?

Pywe Ryan.

Yep.

Are you there?

Please state your name and your address, please.

Uh, my name is Ryan Pierre.

I'm one of the uh displaced residents from 271 Wethersfield Avenue, the fire that happened on October 30th.

Is that your address by myself?

Uh Ryan, just one question.

Is that your current address now?

I am staying with a friend right now on parsonage.

Rocky Hill.

Okay.

I'm sorry, Ryan.

Please go ahead.

No worries.

Uh, so I myself, like uh many of my other tenants am still struggling for the search to be rehomed or rehome ourselves after being displaced from the fire.

Uh so it's been since October 30th.

So uh we've missed, you know, some of us have kids, so we've missed Halloween, we've missed Thanksgiving, we've missed Christmas, and we've missed New Year's, um, all while still being homeless.

From the city or or from any sort of public uh system is not even close to adequate.

They gave us a little bit of liquid cash.

Um, I think uh uh depend depends on who you are.

It was about five to six hundred dollars, which I mean, you know, the fire to us happened on Thursday, Tuesday in uh in a place that's not covered with roaches, and and you know, a lot of people are trying to get kicked, or a lot of places were trying to kick people out.

Um, it's really like a fend for yourself type situation.

Uh, you figure that you know you pay your rent on time and something that is completely out of your control happens, and you wind up homeless.

You think that the city would prop you up and have your back.

Um, kind of like what was said before.

Um it's ridiculous that the city offers us you know uh up to four thousand dollars in support for security deposit, but we can't get it until we get an acceptance offer from our landlord, and then uh HHS told tells us that it takes one to four weeks for that money to actually come from the city.

So, you know, these are private landlords, they have no sympathy or or allegiance to us, so they have absolutely no interest in waiting one to four weeks to receive their deposit.

So many of us are just without a choice, we're trying to save up to rehome ourselves, and we're you know, staying at places without kitchenettes and not able to put you know things in a fridge, having to eat takeout, having to eat junk food, having to eat poorly, and also expensive your shower, your you know, clothes, dressers, uh any of that stuff.

I mean, we're we're floating, and and it really is like nobody cares.

I mean, you know, we all showed up to the building today, and we're the only people here, you know what I mean?

And there's a huge um overwhelming apathy from the city.

Um, as long as they're not in actual tangible hot water.

Um, there's really no urgency, there's no sympathy.

Uh they the fire, everybody got robbed completely blind.

Um, there's absolutely no financial uh uh support from the city for that.

It's you know, a lot of us lost thousands of dollars in in electronics and valuables, and you know, the police report asked you to fill out the serial number, and it's like, well, the the item is gone.

There's no serial number.

I don't know.

And there's not even like a set like, oh, here's 1500 in damages because you lost everything in your apartment to fire damage or to you know an uninhabited building getting robbed overnight.

Like there, there's just no fault the fail saves for this, and like we didn't do anything except for pay our rent on time, pay our security deposit, which we can't even get back.

We had a meeting to put these packets together to do a proper small claims, and we got all the information together, and they're the these landlords are shady.

They're switching addresses where they receive mail at, so they can't get sued.

And so now we're just all I mean, we're owed some of us two, three, yeah, anywhere between two thousand to six thousand dollars, some of us, depending on what our rent was, we're owed this much money, and uh, we can't receive any of it.

So uh yeah.

Um, Ryan, uh, you have got one minute to summarize no uh yeah.

To summarize, uh we're we're floating.

Uh this happens to people all the time.

Uh there's constantly fires in our neighborhoods, the surrounding neighborhoods.

I work in Hartford, I see these fire calls all the time.

And when I see them, I just know what these people are about to go through, which is you know, two to six months of absolute hell um uh of being homeless to no fault of your own and and and being without support.

So um, you know, the the city needs to move to do something to help their taxpayers.

Okay, thank you, Ryan.

Um, next person up, and let me do say that um come through Conswoman Rosado has also joined the public hearing.

Uh again, uh when when we when I call your name, please don't forget to state your name and your address.

Uh next person up is uh Van Born Powell.

And to get things moving after Mr.

Powell, we're gonna go to uh Taylor Powell right afterwards, so we can get this going.

Okay, Mr.

Powell, please take your name and your address, please.

Hi, good afternoon.

My name is Bram Burn Powell, and my address is 271 Weathersfield Avenue, Hartford, Connecticut.

I'm here today to bring a light upon the unjust treatment that displaced tenants receive from Hartford, Connecticut.

It's not really much of a how can I say it's not really much of something to give towards people that really have no plan of this, that have never planned for this.

So I I just come here, came here to know if going forward, whatever tenants get into Hartford.

Are they gonna be treated just as as worse or as better as we are being treated right now?

It's a whole lot of it's a whole lot of displacement, a whole lot of unplanning, a whole lot of trying to figure it out day after day.

And it's it's honestly stressing.

I would like for these policies to address landlords that are not licensed that are that are out and about in the world, but they're not here taking care of the properties that they own.

I would like for these policies to do proper screenings for these landlords that make sure that whenever they're signing a contract with a tenant or contract with whoever that they're openly stating that they're gonna be just as well a part of the bargain as the other as the other um co-signer.

I would just like for the Hartford to pay attention to not just the landlords or what's going on as profits are being made, but more so the people that are putting the work and the people that are paying the taxes, the people that are getting up day to day to just give you know their checks out for the city to feel a little bit right.

I would like that just to come back and be received towards the tenants or the people that are paying the tax money.

The policies for the landlords are a bit underlining, and they can get away with a lot if you know people are screening right.

So I would just I like going forward that all tenants, all landlords have the proper means and communications to withstand uh a landlord tenant contract and have a proper have a proper relationship in renting an apartment or a unit or whatever it may be.

Um that's really much I have to say, though.

I don't have much, but thank you so much for your time.

I appreciate you taking the time out.

Thank you, Mr.

Powell.

Uh next person up to speak is uh Taylor Powell.

Then after uh Taylor, we have Marisol Dremel.

And then again, please state your name and your address.

Hello, my name is Taylor McIntyre.

I was at 271 Weathersfield Avenue.

Oh, so you're not Taylor Powell.

Good evening, and thank you for taking the time to listen today.

I'm here to speak in support of the bill because I have lived the consequences of what happens when protections are not strong enough.

After a residential fire, my family and I lost our home.

While we were grateful to be alive, the trauma did not end, did not end there.

We were displaced, we were unable to access our belongings, and left without clear communication and accountability from the landlord.

During this time, our apartment um our apartments was broken into, and irreplaceable property was stolen, including family heirlooms, um family photos of deceived um loved ones and essential items were that we depended on.

In the weeks that followed, we lived in temporary housing, struggling to replace basic necessary things while navigating our unreturned security deposits and unanswered phone calls and the emotional toll of repeated um um repeated uncertainty.

We did everything we were supposed to do.

We followed the process, we asked for help right away, and still we were left to fight for what should have been automatic and humane.

This experience has affected every part of our lives.

Our mental health, our ability to work, our ability, our sense of safety, and our trust in the system meant to protect tenants during emergencies.

No one who survives a disaster should also have to battle silence delay and legal conflict um conflicts just to receive what was rightfully ours.

I'm here today, not only for myself, but for families who do not have the time, resources, or strength to speak up while they're in survival mode.

Please pass this bill because people's stability, mental health, and recovery depend on it.

And that is my ending.

Taylor.

Next person up to speak is Marisel Dremelin, our German.

And then right after Marisel, we have Rachel McCoy.

It appears that many of you are talking regarding the the fire and weather still avenue.

If that is not your current address, would you please state your current address?

Good evening, everybody.

Um my name is Julian Morales.

Um, here we have uh Marisel Hermann.

She lives at 33 Shutter's place.

And she wrote that she said, um, I am displaced tenant from 2771 Weatherfield Avenue.

My nightmare didn't begin on October 30th, 2005 25.

It started much earlier.

The building was not being maintained.

The tenants were organized, and we learned together about rights and responsibilities.

We paid our random time, and yet we were forced to live without dignity.

I am a single mother of four children, and I can't explain how difficult it is for me to provide for all my family's needs.

On October 30th, 2025, the worst part of my nightmare began.

The building where we lived burned down.

All of my belongings were lost.

What little I had left was moved with the help of people from the community and my children's friends.

They helped retrieve some of the things that have been left behind by the looters who were able to enter the building.

Thanks to the landers' irresponsibility.

We don't have an apartment right now.

When I asked for help, they asked me if I had family members I could stay with instead of providing me with a place to live after my home burned down.

I've been leaving my children in a relatives' department for three months, and I can't stay there any longer because we need our own space.

And all the other expenses.

I believe this ordinance is necessary to protect Harper families, since we make up 75% of the taxpayers in this city.

It's unfair that we're still going through this, and not one from the city has even called to check on us.

As a city council and major, you should review your priorities and consider whether it is move more important to accommodate landlords from the state's abusive landlords without licenses who are causing the working class of preferred to live in hotels, infested with cockroaches and threats.

As responsibilities, and then finding out that the city doesn't even require to have a license to rent.

I hope this ordinance passes for this for the sake of the taxpayers you represent.

Thank you.

Next person up is Rachel McCoy, and then followed by Stephen Keller.

Rachel couldn't make it.

Okay.

Then let's go to Stephen Keller.

Oh, okay.

Again, please state your name and your current address.

Sorry, Charlie.

We have someone that has Rachel's testimony.

Oh, okay.

And what's the person's name?

Oh, never mind.

Okay.

Sorry.

Getting mixed messages here.

I'm Stefan.

I'll go next.

Sorry about it.

Okay.

So Stefan, are you gonna speak now?

Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Um, there we go.

Okay.

I went in.

Thank you all for Stefan.

Would you please say today?

Anyway.

My name is Stefan Keller.

I live at 32 Ashley Street in Hartford.

I'm gonna be reading some words from our organizer, Teresa Quintana from Make the Road.

Um, our address as an organization is 885 Weathersfield Av, um, also in Hartford.

Um, before I read Tedesa's words, just a brief summary on the ordinance is that it's really important that this passes.

One, it provides the city a framework for what its responsibilities are, and also gives the city the power to understand responsibilities for how to go after landlords, right?

Because we know one of the issues is that the city has trouble recouping kind of expenses and things that landlords should be paying.

This ordinance makes it easier to do that, and also lays out the city's responsibilities as well.

Because when there's lack of clarity, we know it makes things more challenging.

That's the main reasons we want this to pass.

Um, but for Teresa, um, my name is Teresa Quintana, community organizer with Make Thorough, Connecticut.

I've been working in Hartford for almost six years and four years of the tenants of Weathersfield Avenue.

I have seen many irregularities and apathy from the city of Hartford, not only with the wonderful tenants here, but with many other tenants in the city.

I saw how our community has been affected and dehumanized thanks to the lack of empathetic leadership from our local government and from the slum lords who are around the city.

Um as a community organizer, I have learned together with my community um how systems work, and that even then laws are in place.

It does not mean that um there is justice for the people of the city.

Um the people here are taxpayers, our residents, and are demanding accountability of our elected officials and appointed people who are working on behalf of us to make sure they apply these laws to protect us, not against us.

We have learned that sometimes elected officials forget about the importance of democracy and the people's rights to participation, as there are many meetings that we've experienced without language justice.

Um, and it's an easy rule to ignore.

We don't know or understand.

Um, I have seen many times how the local government violates the civil rights of the people.

I saw the lack of knowledge of who they should be working for, the programs that we have sometimes that are sold to residents of Hartford, don't work for the tenants, but instead of for those who want to abuse them.

Creativity doesn't come from people with degrees or money.

It comes to leaders who listen and make safe spaces for the people's participation.

As an example of public hearing, such as this that is only virtual as opposed to being hybrid, meaning the city council's not here to see directly the faces and the experiences of the tenants in the room.

This ordinance will help to better protect mothers like Marisol, young couples like Van and Taylor, young people like Ryan, many of whom you've heard from today, families like Victor, who already adopt Hartford as their place to put down their roots for more than 25 years.

Everyone is trying to contribute to this beautiful city.

If you don't know the faces of the names of the people who you work for, we don't have anything and don't feel for them.

Thank you so much for your time.

And that is today's testimony.

Thank you, Mr.

Keller.

Uh next up to speak is Sarah White, followed by Marisol Navarro.

Again, please state your name and your current address.

Oh I see Marisol on the Zoom.

I think you're for Zoom.

Um she's iPhone too.

iPhone 2.

Are you Marisel?

Is that you?

iPhone 2?

Yes, yes.

Okay.

So why don't you okay?

So you're on mute, so you've got five minutes uh to testify at the public hearing.

Are you for or against this ordinance?

Are you is this for Marisol?

Um yes.

Okay.

Hi, I'm in favor of this ordinance.

Um, good evening.

My name is Marisol Navarro, and I currently live at 111 Sherbrooke Avenue in Hartford Apartment 106.

Um the reason I'm in favor is is like right now um I'm having kind of like a really hard time listening to these other tenants because it is something that we live through a year and a half ago, and to see that people are still struggling and going through the same things that we went through at that time because codes are not being followed.

Um, also because things are not being handled in a timely manner by the city of Hartford, um, is heartbreaking.

Um a lot of the stuff that happens after a family is displaced, um, the fire itself is is is a big issue, you know, because the landlords are not being held accountable.

Um, and to on top of it, to add the time frames that are being of protocol that should be followed on the days after a fire where people should be at least within 48 hours of the fire department stating that the premises are safe for people to go in and retrieve their belongings or whatever they have left, um, is not being handled properly because as for myself, my apartment was not affected by the fire at 105 Sherbrooke.

It was that it was vandalized and looted, and I lost everything that I had.

Um just listening to these people tonight, going through the things that I already went through and how hard it was.

The fact that the days go by and you are and you're staying at unoper, you know, places like hotels that are not appropriate, they don't have kitchens, you don't have money.

Um for us, like the people from 105.

If it wasn't um for the private sector that helped us with food and clothing, um it would have made it even harder because there was no food vouchers, there was no cash help, um, and it's just also when you go to the office, like for example, the relocation department.

I feel that uh there needs to be more training in general in this um departments of the city of Hartford, so that when they communicate with the tenants that are going through such terrible moments that everyone is on board, everyone has the same exact information because at least on our part, it was over 50 families at that time that got affected, and everyone we spoke to from the same department, everyone we would spoke to, um, everyone had a different information.

And everyone we spoke to from the same department, everyone we spoke to, um, everyone had a different information.

Or some of us were getting certain things and the other ones weren't.

Um, it's just a matter of just like proper training within the city and and addressing like code enforcement and just time frames, because it's not easy to be in a in a hotel for at least I was there for almost five months.

And to go through all these things, and at the end, we're talking about a year and a half later.

I've been, well, it was the year that I moved back into my apartment um to see the same things happening and nothing is is being done.

It's just heart-wrenching.

And I just hope that this bill is passed or at least enforced, and that we see changes um soon.

Because um we love our city.

We want to stay in our city, but it's hard.

Um, Marisol, you have 30 seconds to wrap up.

Well, I just want to say that I hope that this bill passes and that it gets enforced properly in a timely manner when people are going through such rough times after a fire.

Okay, thank you so very much, uh Marisol.

Sarah, is that you waiting up to speak next?

Okay, great.

So thank you again, Marisol.

Again, please state your name and your address, and right after Sarah, we'll have uh destiny Metnight.

My name is Sarah.

Um, my address is 167 Beacon Street in Hartford.

I'm an attorney at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center.

Our organizational address is 60 Papalusco Court, also in Hartford.

And thank you for the opportunity to testify here today.

I'm testifying in strong support of passing this ordinance.

I've been a housing attorney for 15 years and increasingly over the last few years have worked with groups of tenants, including many of these in this room and on Zoom, who have been displaced by fire and you know, had to pick up, you know, restart their lives, start all over again.

And I've seen, you know, the indignities that they've unfortunately had to go through.

The Fair Housing Center is a civil rights organization.

We primarily work on housing discrimination issues, but because unsafe housing conditions and fire and displacement are predominantly affecting Black and Latinate tenants in Hartford and many other communities, have increasingly focused this on as an area of our work.

Much more needs to be done for Hartford tenants, but the good news is that there is under state law more that the city could be doing to provide support for displaced tenants and seek reimbursement from landlords.

The overall framework is the Uniform Relocation Assistance Act, which was passed in 1971 and requires municipalities to plan for people's displacement, including by defy providing defined benefits, but also ensuring that adequate replacement housing is available and when it's not providing emergency housing and temporary housing.

All of this, however, can be recouped from the landlord through a priority lien with the same priority as a tax lien or a private cause of action.

And I understand from the city and from other municipalities that there has been issues in recouping some of these benefits, but I believe that this ordinance in this framework would make clear to all parties involved what the obligations are and make it easier for the city to recoup this money and to provide more services for the tenants.

So we don't have to continue hearing stories like the ones we've heard tonight about people staying in unsafe motels, having to eat fast food, not having access to kitchenettes, sort of being left on their own to pick up their lives after a fire.

Additionally, this ordinance would clarify that after two weeks of emergency housing, which could be in a hotel, that temporary housing should be provided that includes a kitchenette and adequate living space.

This is consistent with the state law, the URAA, as well as the Supreme Court decision interpreting it, Dukes versus Durante, and would you know help tenants by ensuring that they have safe temporary housing and also um make it easier for the city to recoup these costs.

Additionally, theft has been an increasing problem after fires.

Sadly, and there seem to be people that are monitoring fires and predictably will loot buildings after fires, causing tenants to lose often all of their property.

So if someone is able to make it out of the fire alive, unharmed, their stuff undamaged, they often will lose everything regardless.

Um, this ordinance would help with that by requiring landlords to provide security after a fire as well as access for tenants to retrieve their belongings.

And if for some reason a landlord does not, the city could step in and provide security, including you know, 24 hours security, an off-duty police officer, things like that to ensure that tenants don't um have to continue having their belongings stolen.

And then finally, this ordinance would improve the process for providing relocation assistance.

As far as I can tell, Hartford hasn't really meaningfully changed its process since the 1980s or early 1990s, and a lot has changed since then, both in terms of what the housing market looked like and how we can make this process easier for people.

As it stands, tenants have to go to three different offices to apply for relocation assistance immediately after losing their home to a fire.

This could be simplified and improved, and I think that this ordinance provides a framework for how to do that so that everybody knows what's required of them.

Tenants know what they can expect, and landlords know what they're on the hook for as well, so that the city can more easily recoup those costs.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Sarah.

Uh, next Madam Chair, Madam Chair, may I ask a question of uh Sarah?

Absolutely.

Go ahead, Councilman.

Thank you.

Uh Ms.

White, uh, really two questions.

First question is uh there are certainly times when a fire has occurred in an apartment building, and the cause of the fire was something uh some negligence on the part of a tenant.

I know what you've been speaking tonight mostly about uh concerns where the landlord has been negligent in not maintaining the building up the code, but I'm wondering whether you have a position with respect to uh the collectibility of the relocation benefits when the landlord is not at fault for the cause of the fire.

So there's actually a Supreme Court case on point from 2024, PPC real PPC Realty versus City of Hartford on this very issue.

And in that case, there was a fire caused by a third party's arson.

It was truly no one's fault, not the landlord's fault, not the tenants' fault.

And the Supreme Court confirmed that that priority lien was still valid, um, even though the landlord was not at fight fault for the fire.

So I think this shows, and the city of Hartford did a great job litigating that case, which I mean gives us a very strong argument for the collectibility of these URAA benefits, even when um the blame can't be traced to the landlord or there wasn't you know underlying lack of codent um lack of compliance with codes or something like that.

Okay, so basic position is the landlord pays no matter who's in fault.

Um second question um do you have a position with respect to tenant insurance?

I mean, it would be great if people have renters insurance.

The reality is that most tenants in Hartford, and I will say even when I was a tenant in Hartford, I did not have renter's insurance, they simply don't.

Um, you know, the URAA applies regardless of someone whether someone has renter's insurance.

I think there's certainly things the city could do to increase access to renters' insurance.

I heard an idea mentioned of maybe creating you know a pilot program where people are automatically enrolled in some zip codes, but that is not a substitute for what the city is actually legally mandated to do under the uniform relocation assistance act or um a landlord's liability for those amounts.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Thank you.

Councilman Gale.

Thank you, uh, Ms.

White or Attorney White.

Uh, next up to speak is um Destiny Knight, followed by Dave Richardson.

I think Destiny might be with parasol.

Is Destiny on line?

We could come back around.

I think you can talk to Dave.

Um okay.

So let's go on to Dave Richardson.

And then we're going to be followed by Luke Melenkus.

Dave.

Uh is Dave online or in okay.

Uh, what about Luke?

Luke.

I'm here.

Okay, great.

You've got five minutes, Luke.

Please state your name and your address, please.

My name is Luke Melanakos.

My address is 221 Sherman Avenue in New Haven, um, 06511.

I'm the vice president of the Connecticut Tenants Union, and I worked very closely with the tenants who were displaced from 105 Sherbrooke at a fire that occurred there in August of 2024.

And then those tenants were um displaced for many months after that.

So I'm I'm speaking from that perspective.

Okay.

Um gonna try to just hit a few key points since so many of the testimonies preceding me have really spoken to the heart of the issue on the table tonight.

I just wanted to say from from our experience, um, Connecticut Tenants Union working with the displaced tenants who organized after their fire, the level of breakdown in communication that we experienced and that our members experienced during that time with with city administration was really difficult to navigate and very frustrating.

We were working with a lot of city employees who were well intentioned, but the protocols and the procedures and the policies were not in place for them to effectively do their jobs or fulfill their roles.

Part of what this ordinance does is simply clarify what the expectations are.

You know, it many of our folks were aware that the frontline staff who were trying to help them were not necessarily to blame for the lack of or the miscommunication and the false information.

It's it was the overall lack of standardized policies and procedures and training that then resulted in people wasting tons of time, taking time off work to get nothing for it when they were already having just suffered huge financial losses in their personal life.

Just just a lot of negative impacts that could have been prevented with better administration.

This ordinance lays out protocols that could help with that.

It needs to be paired with real leadership and political will in city government to make sure that those policies and procedures are correctly implemented.

Another thing that we experienced was ourselves, uh, you know, the Fair Housing Center, Sarah just spoke before me.

Other organizations who are on the front lines working with tenants through crisis every single day, are ready and willing to advise to share our our expertise, to share our experiences.

Of course, the tenants themselves were constantly sharing their own lived experience and expertise.

And it was frustrating that that was not being utilized and taken advantage of by the relevant people in city administration who, if we would have been able to partner together, could have made it such a better experience for both parties.

I also just want to emphasize that this ordinance is homelessness prevention and homelessness prevention is always more cost effective than homelessness.

We saw firsthand how close to that edge our people were, and it took fighting tooth and nail to try to get extensions on the temporary housing and get them relocated to adequate temporary housing so that they had a baseline from which to seek new housing and negotiate with their landlord and you know actually get their their needs addressed.

But if that baseline wouldn't have been in place, which if if folks hadn't organized, it wouldn't have been in place.

Um many more of the impacted people would have fallen into the homeless services system and and dealt with other traumas and negative impacts that would have devastated them personally and also had ramifications for the city and for the city's budget.

I also wanted to just say that Marisol and Dave and and others were able in the end to negotiate with their landlord, Greyhill Group, a New York-based large-scale investment firm landlord, negotiate for uh replacement apartments at the same rents that they were paying for longer-term leases, two-year leases in several cases, which was beneficial for their housing stability and affordability, and was made possible by them having that that baseline of temporary housing so that they could actually negotiate and have a little negotiating power with their landlord.

If not for that, and they would have had to just take the most readily available apartment, so many people would have ended up in worse housing conditions for more money in in unsafe.

It's in the city's interest to give tenants that standing so that they can have a little more negotiating power.

It's part of a medium-term response to the housing crisis that Hartford and the state of Connecticut is facing.

Last thing I want to say, I just want to emphasize to this body as city council, your role in placing a check on the executive leadership of the city and really holding the city administration to the highest level to the highest standard possible for the benefit of your constituents.

That's what this ordinance is about.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Gale for keeping track of us.

And look, I've got a question for you.

Okay.

How does the uh something similar?

I mean, we're all urban areas.

If you looked at um their uh ordinance and their protocol for fires before, yeah, you know, Sarah is the expert on the ordinances across the state.

We did we did have a situation where we were working with a group of tenants who were displaced by a fire, but their displacement was brief.

Um, unlike the they were able to get the building repaired and people moved back in much faster.

I will say that we've been able to build a good relationship with the code enforcement agency here in New Haven.

So I don't want to say more than what I know about, but I will say that at least there's a good line of communication, and that was not our experience in Hartford.

Okay, thank you.

Then I'll reach out to Sarah later on to ask that question.

Okay, thank you, Luke.

Um thank you so very much.

Um, I heard Dave uh Richardson was having some trouble technical-wise.

Um here.

You're here now, Dave.

All right.

Yes, I am please state your name and your address, Dave.

My name is Dave Richardson.

Um, I live on 105 Sherbrooke Avenue, apartment 42.

Okay, go ahead and testify, please.

Um this amendment actually would help residents like myself.

Um there are a lot of things that went wrong when the when we had the fire where we were displaced.

For one, we were putting in the motels, roach infested, um, mice, mice infested and mold, and we didn't get the assistance that we needed.

Uh we couldn't even get a place to put us to store our items, and we were like we were kicked out of the apartment of the building.

And with that, we couldn't get in to get our stuff.

I lost items.

A lot of the other residents, I would say 95% of the residents lost items also.

The landlord gave people the key to burglarize um the apartments.

The city never did anything.

The mayor said that the me and the police department said the people from out of state and they could not do anything about it.

That means the landlord has the right to do whatever they want to do and not take care of the residents.

Um, also I'm disabled, I'm on low income.

It cost me pretty close to almost 500 a week to eat out of the restaurant.

We need people need assistance when it comes to being displaced and cannot make meals at home.

We were moved to Candlewood Inn, which makes it a little bit better, but wasn't nowhere near as good as being back home.

In the light of everything, even the money that was allocated for relocation, the four thousand dollars.

That was something that was established back in the 70s to relocate an individual right now in the current market situation, it costs somewhere on about between 10 to 15,000.

And if you were using, if you're using the scale from in the 70s, there's no way that can be feasible today, almost 50 years later.

So there need to be adjustments, and we need to follow proper protocol and get people back housed as soon as possible.

The mayor did not do uh good job because I know he went in after he took off his after someone else, but when this when this fire took place, he was in charge, and the housing department, the billing department, the coding forces did a terrible job even inspecting the property.

They allow the landlord to do whatever they feel like and even try to repair the building without permits.

The system was was very, very, very bad.

And did not work in the best interest of the tenant.

What I'm what I'm trying to get, and what we need to get done in the city of Hartford is that the residents are being taken care of adequately and not being left out in the cold.

I face being out in the cold in December.

And in January twice.

Because of the expiration date on the housing voucher that we got.

And being disabled and low income.

We were trying that we were sent to places that would no one really wants to live.

You don't want to come out of your house and then there's a personal side using drugs.

No one wants to be to be have to get back home by before sunset because you don't want to deal with the elements outside because of the type of housing that they were trying to put them back into.

Um I'm saying I support this bill 100%, and I hope it does pass so that the next tenant that's being displaced don't have to go through what I went through.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good timing, uh, Dave.

I was gonna tell you got 35 um seconds left to wrap up.

Okay, thank you so very much.

Um for your question.

Uh no, sir, we're good.

No questions.

Let me go on to the next person, Amanda uh Chaufflet fleet, chauffeet.

Oh, yeah, you had it the first time.

It's really God, really?

Oh my god, just about almost nobody does.

Okay, what is okay?

Pronounce that for me again, please, Amanda.

Yes, um, good evening, council members and community.

My name is Amanda Shaflet.

Oh, I live at 1616 Boulevard in West Hartford, but I'm testifying tonight based on my disaster health nursing experience with fire victims and displaced families throughout Connecticut and specifically here in Hartford.

I'm here tonight to talk to strongly support this relocation ordinance because I've witnessed firsthand the devastating gaps that currently exist when tenants are suddenly displaced from unsafe housing.

And my work responding to local disasters, which are most frequently residential fires.

I've talked to families discharged from the emergency department at 2 a.m.

with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

I've watched parents desperately trying to figure out where their children will sleep that night, how they'll get to work the next morning, or well, they'll find their essential medications or even simple things like reading glasses.

These aren't just housing problems, they're public health crises, and they unfold in real time and often in the dark.

Um what this ordinance recognizes, and what my professional experience confirms is that displacement creates cascading health emergencies.

When families lose stable housing, and especially when they lose it suddenly, we see immediate trauma responses, particularly in children.

We see chronic disease management that becomes completely disrupted when people lose their medications to fire, they lose their medical equipment, and often lose access to their medical providers when they are displaced to unfamiliar neighborhoods.

We see mental health crises emerge from the acute stress of losing one's home and possessions, which I think many of the um tenants tonight have spoken to very eloquently.

The 48-hour window that this ordinance establishes for the initial assessment is not being absolutely catastrophic.

The comprehensive approach outlined in this ordinance, emergency housing with private bathrooms and access to a kitchen, immediate cash assistance, transportation to medical appointments, assistance accessing medications and essential items.

These things are not luxuries, um, they're the basic stabilization stabilization measures that determine whether a displaced family can maintain their health, keep their jobs, keep their kids in school, which is among the most stabilizing um uh strategies, and then eventually rebuild their lives.

I've also seen what happens when displaced families fall through the cracks of a fragmented emergency response, which is all too often our experience.

They bounce between inadequate temporary solutions, often in unfamiliar neighborhoods, as I said.

They sleep in their cars sometimes or crowd into relatives' apartments when their vouchers run out, creating new housing code violations.

Children miss school, adults lose employment.

Chronic conditions worsen without proper medication management.

I particularly want to emphasize the importance of the requirements of providing notices and conducting interviews in the tenants' preferred language.

These create the transparency that's necessary, and that I believe many of the other um the others testifying tonight are asking for that we'll ensure displaced families receive the help they're promised in the moment of crisis, and that as a city um we have a better way of preventing uh future crises.

Council members, you have the opportunity tonight to further strengthen Hartford's response to housing displacement from a public health emergency into a managed transition with dignity, which everyone deserves.

As a nurse who's worked closely with families losing everything, I urge you to pass this ordinance.

Um is there anyone here that's speaking up in favor of this ordinance that have not signed up to speak?

I would like to speak.

Councilwoman, we have somebody.

And my children have also been affected by what happened to me.

This was really catastrophic for me.

It's really it's a hard situation because every night um where am I gonna go?

Where am I gonna go?

Where am I gonna live?

It's not easy.

It's my duro la situation for me.

I mean my pays, pero no puedo, some muchos años de sacrificio.

It's really hard for me.

Sometimes I think about going back to my country, but but I can't, and I've I've sacrificed so many years here.

So it's I really don't know at this point how to resolve this problem.

I don't have I'm not getting any more help from the Red Cross, only the only that $4,000.

And I also had money attached that I had kept in the house, the apartment, and that's lost as well.

It's my sacrificious de muchos años.

And my material things, my belongings, that I worked and sacrificed for for many years.

So as I told you, right now I have only until February 3rd to leave the hotel.

And you know, I've I've talked to them and I've said can I get an extension at this point.

And councilman mentioned was the fire with 31 Elliott.

Is that the location of the fire?

Yeah, the fire started in 29.

Some two buildings that burnt.

Okay, thank you.

I believe councilwoman uh rosado have a couple of questions.

And after councilman Rosaldo, then I think there was two other people here who are signed who did not sign up.

Um which we will have speak, um Chelsea and then Anna afterwards.

Okay, councilwoman Rosado.

Uh thank thank you, uh madam chair.

Señora, lo siento mucho por lo que usted está pasando.

Me podría decir que la memoria, el incendio de usted de la Elliott Street for Wanda.

El 17 de October.

Okay.

El 27 de October, ¿qué ayuda?

4 mil dollars.

Okay.

No.

Okay.

So la ciudad le dio los $4,000 para que usted diera un deposito para un nuevo apartamento, pero no ha podido hacer eso todavía.

No, porque la renta istaan muy caras.

Entonces yo tampoco no quente con dinero.

Perdóneme.

No, no, no.

Oh, como 9, 10 años.

Okay.

Entonces el Lalo le devolvió su deposito.

No.

No, no.

Okay.

Yo les he pedido una extension.

Okay.

Entonces la ciudad le ha proveedo algún servicio para que usted consiga apartamento.

La puesto como un social worker or departamento con usted, pero no ha podido conseguir.

And my ultima, my ultima pregunta.

No ha hecho nada para hablar con el Leandro.

Uh-huh.

But la casa está totalmente total, total de la casa.

Okay.

Okay.

Gracias por essa information.

So, Councilman Rosada, would you like to share with us an uh Spanish speaking what the conversation was regarding?

Well, my conversation with her is I asked her when did this take place?

I think she said uh October 27th.

And I asked her if the city had provided her with uh $4,000, and she said yes.

Um, I also asked her if the city had provided her uh with some sort of help from social worker from the relocation services in order to help her find uh an apartment, and she she said yes, but that they're all very expensive.

The rents are 1800, 1900.

I asked her how much was her rent.

Um, she said that it was 1100.

Um, I asked her if uh she perhaps had the same um luck that Miss Marisol had moving back, but um I overlooked that the house um was you know um damaged completely and and actually someone died there.

Um so basically the city of Hartford, I believe has had her um in a hotel, but she needs to move out on February 3rd.

Okay, so much for that help.

No, thank you.

Um we're gonna follow up.

Um, thank you, ma'am.

Yeah, and I will I will copy you on the follow-up.

Appreciate it.

Okay, so we had um two other speaker who did not sign up, but would like to speak in favor of this ordinance.

Uh Chelsea.

You've got please state your name, and you've got five minutes.

Sure.

Can you hear me okay?

Okay, yeah.

Um Chelsea Connery, my address is uh 68 Edwards Street in New Haven.

Um I'm also a staff attorney at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center.

Our organizational address, as Sarah said, is 60 Papalushko Circle in Hartford.

Um I'm testifying in support of the ordinance, um, amending chapter 18, uh, Article 9 of the municipal code.

Um, in my role as a staff attorney in the past uh just the past year and a half, I've worked with dozens of tenants from Hartford displaced by fires alongside my colleague Sarah who testified earlier.

Um, but even the folks that we have been able to work with only represent a small percentage of the overall tenants displaced by over 83 residential fires that took place in the city um in 2025.

Given how traumatizing these experiences are, I'm immensely proud of and commend the impacted residents who have spoken this evening, and also feel you know tremendously sad that they have to be put in that position.

Um this ordinance is vitally important to Hartford residents who are a vast majority renters, and it's frankly uh common sense.

The proposed ordinance codifies what is already required by state law, the Uniform Relocation Assistance Act, uh, the regulations governing that act, and Connecticut Supreme Court precedent interpreting that act.

Um it does so in a way that I think is you know helpfully consolidated and more understandable and accessible.

That is, you know, it's important to emphasize that the ordinance is not imposing some burdensome new mandate on the city.

Um, it is clarifying to Hartford officials and residents the city's obligation to tenants displaced by housing code enforcement activity, among other things.

In my personal experience and uh which is corroborated by decades of case law and department of housing decisions on the topic.

This type of clarification is necessary because the city has at best been obstructionist towards tenants who try to seek what they're entitled to under Uniform Relocation Assistance Act, and at worst have failed entirely or put tenants in dangerous circumstances in contradiction of the law.

As Sarah detailed, the ordinance also makes clear the existing state law that provides for the city's ability to recoup their costs.

And even more importantly, the proposed ordinance creates a clear um uniform relocation assistance act implementation structure and clear action steps, which given what I just shared, and given what folks have, you know, like Luke and Sarah and the tenants who have experienced these things, right?

It is that structure to guide the actions that are mandated under law.

Um which seems like a necessary step.

And then finally, there are um the ordinance proposes some reporting requirements, which I think are also important to ensure proper implementation and monitor patterns and implementation, which can help and the need for uh assistance under the Uniform Relocation Assistance Act in Hartford, which could help the city plan year to year.

Um so overall, you know, we are in support of this proposed ordinance passing in Hartford, and appreciate everyone taking the time tonight to hear our testimony.

Okay.

Thank you, Chelsea.

Oh, Kelsey.

Don't get pronounced the people's name wrong.

Sorry about that.

Uh other person that raised their hands would like to speak in favor of this ordinance, I believe is Anna.

Uh Hannah.

Yep.

There you go.

You have minutes, please state your name and your address, please.

My name is Hannah Schreier.

I live at Three West Rock Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, and um, I'm the president of Connecticut Tenants Union.

I like many other folks who have spoken before me, am frankly appalled to hear the same stories that I heard last year when 60 members of the Concord Hills tenant union face the same issues with the city's response to displacement after an electrical electrical fire.

Um the city of Hartford is experiencing a structural problem that the ordinance addresses well.

And actually, this year in February, uh, the city of East Hartford adopted a version of this ordinance in response to what was happening to their neighbors next door, understanding that if they didn't act now to modernize and clarify their policies, that many more of their residents would suffer unnecessary distress and harm.

While we cannot control sometimes the fact of displacement or a fire, we can control enforcing housing code, we can control the clarity and ease that the residents of the city navigates through the system after they are displaced.

And I I sincerely hope that this council um does their duty to the residents of this city and passes this ordinance because this problem is not gonna go away.

And I frankly don't know if I um can bear coming again to another um city council public hearing to hear the exact same stories over and over again.

If this ordinance had been put in place last year, the folks who are testifying today would not be here and would not be experiencing the seriousness and severity of you know emotional, financial and physical distress.

And so um this is not a problem that's gonna go away.

And I sincerely hope that the council acts now rather than later um to preserve the stability of their residence for the future.

Um and I am really sincerely sincerely sorry to hear the testimonies of folks tonight um because they this was preventable in terms of the responses that they could have received from the city.

And yeah.

Um last person to speak um for uh in favor of this ordinance would be Yasinia Martinez Alamo.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening.

Hi, my name is Gisena Martinez.

Um proceeding Oh Hire for um I am not beating um any flyer, but I have some people that uh was missing the houses.

Um this woman helping uh family that it wasn't a fire, but one for um land or why I start to have those family.

I feel out that um specific uh the motel seeks on weatherfield was really full.

Fire the family of the um uh was from fires.

It wasn't on fire, but what for um landlord fraud but while I start to have those family I figured out that um specific uh the motel six on weatherfield was really full fire the family of the um uh was from fires and they are have the same history um different consequence um but the same thing they only have um the money from this job um they don't have money from the deposit um the insurance don't want to pay or they pay some uh so little or they don't have insurance um the motel only allow you 30 days your family is more than five you have to pay three or four groups extra so every room is ninety nine five dollars um each room every day that is cost like six hundred thirty weekly even the family helping this uh a nurse a professional nurse and she her son that's um professional insurance broker they can't pay that they have to pay for four rooms for her family and it's a lot so they don't they can't pay for a rent they can't pay for a deposit either so they had to jump from hotel to hotel for in that every thirty or twenty days depending on the motel figure out is the motel allow pet the um they figure out if the uh school w uh want to send the bus through the hotel and it's a mess really and I notice that all those motels have like no one not you is like five six seven family in the same motel and everybody every time they had to shame from motel through motel all the way Connecticut and that's unfair really really unfair so everybody called to do two one one and they don't have money they only refer through other organizations they don't have service they don't have money they don't have enough nothing only food and clothes so uh when they finally find a place that can pay the rent they say okay we can pay the rent but the landlord had to come and so uh in your favor and sign some document no land any landlord do that any so they have to still like jump around until somebody decide to say you know what I can help you I in favor the of the on the this form um and I wish but um but you need to see all the the the hold the system have because it's not only make a law is see what happened when that's happened not only for family on fire issues it's only um it's all kind of family that's um miss the houses for any any race or for gas water damage or fraud okay all right well thank you um I think I just got a text um that uh Stephanie Melendez Stephanie Melendez um when it was to speak she left the parallel okay all right okay well seeing that we have no one to speak in favor of is there anyone here to speak against this ordinance is there anyone here to speak against this ordinance is there anyone here speaking against this ordinance seeing or hearing no other uh speaker for or against the ordinance um there's no other item on the agenda I am gonna hereby adjourn the public hearing good night everyone and thank you so very much for testifying good night