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Housing issues affect everyone in Connecticut, from those who are searching for a safe place to live, to those who may find it increasingly difficult to afford a place they already call home.WNPR is covering Connecticut's housing and homelessness issues in a series that examines how residents are handling the challenges they face. We look at the trends that matter most right now, and tell stories that help bring the issues to light.

How COVID-19 Could Worsen America's Eviction Crisis

Dennis Carr
/
Flickr

The beginning of the month means the rent is due. But what if you lost your job during the COVID-19 pandemic?

This hour, we talk to a housing advocate about what protections exist for Connecticut residents who can’t afford housing costs right now. And we learn about the lasting consequences for residents who are at risk for eviction if the state and federal governments don’t provide additional protections.

Later, we listen back to a conversation with Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted started a national conversation about America’s eviction crisis. How do evictions disrupt --  not just families -- but entire communities?

GUESTS:

  • Greg Kirschner - Legal director of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center
  • Matthew Desmond - Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. He is the principal investigator at the Eviction Lab at Princeton
  • Erin Kemple – Executive Director of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center
  • Milagros Ortiz - Tenant at the Clay Arsenal Renaissance Apartments in Hartford, CT

The second half of this show originally aired on August 30, 2018.

Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

 

Lucy leads Connecticut Public's strategies to deeply connect and build collaborations with community-focused organizations across the state.
Carmen Baskauf was a producer for Connecticut Public Radio's news-talk show Where We Live, hosted by Lucy Nalpathanchil from 2017-2021. She has also contributed to The Colin McEnroe Show.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Federal funding is gone.

Congress has eliminated all funding for public media.

That means $2.1 million per year that Connecticut Public relied on to deliver you news, information, and entertainment programs you enjoyed is gone.

The future of public media is in your hands.

All donations are appreciated, but we ask in this moment you consider starting a monthly gift as a Sustainer to help replace what’s been lost.

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Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.