Rents are rising across Connecticut, but incomes aren’t rising commensurate with housing costs, and Gov. Ned Lamont is looking for new ways to aid renters.
Lamont announced plans Thursday for a bill that would create a type of rent cap. It would prevent landlords from increasing rent depending on the rate of inflation.
“A lot of it's related to out of state buyers, buying up the market, using that monopoly to jack up rents,” Lamont said while addressing the first annual state of housing forum, hosted by housing advocacy group Partnership for Strong Communities.
The rent cap would be aimed at preventing landlords from drastically raising rent shortly after purchasing a property.
The bill would prevent landlords from increasing rent more than a few percentages, but Lamont said the alternative can’t continue.
“I've seen that result in homelessness,” Lamont said. “A lot of seniors who can't afford [it] there. They get very little notice. They're pushed out the door. We're not gonna let that happen.”
Lamont introduced similar bills in previous legislative sessions, but they didn’t garner enough support to get passed in the state legislature.
The governor said the goal of the bill would be to prevent out-of-state landlords from purchasing apartments in Connecticut and boosting the rent considerably, pricing out existing tenants.
“What I feel strongly about is private equity and Blackstone and others buying up a lot of multifamily housing and then jacking up the rents and pushing people out, and we've seen that around the country, even in Connecticut,” Lamont said.
The State of Housing report, released by the Partnership for Strong Communities, outlined the state’s housing needs and how Connecticut compares to other states.
Housing costs in Connecticut are 23% higher than the national average, and one of the report’s authors, Kayla Giordano, said it’s not just impacting renters.
“To comfortably afford a two bedroom apartment, a renter must earn over $35 an hour,” Giordano said. “Yet the average renter in Connecticut earns less than $23.”
Census Bureau data shows 38% of renters are behind on rent and at risk of eviction in the next two months. Meanwhile, 18% of homeowners felt they were similarly at risk of losing their homes.
Purchasing the average priced home in Connecticut, at about $370,000, requires a household to earn six figures, Giordano said.
“There is no silver bullet that will create a world where everyone has a home, but building more housing is one of the most powerful levers we have to move towards one,” Giordano said.
