In less than two weeks, the Blake Street 16 went from facing eviction court to pioneering the first landlord-tenant negotiations in Connecticut’s history.

IN THESE TIMES, Thomas Birmingham, December 12, 2023

NEW HAVEN, CONN. — Things looked bleak on Blake Street when, at around 3:30 p.m. on August 19, Jessica Stamp and 15 of her neighbors found eviction notices taped to their door. 

Ocean Management, Stamp’s landlord and one of New Haven’s most powerful companies, seemed intent on getting her out. But 13 days later, on Sept. 1, Ocean called off the evictions and came to the bargaining table to negotiate the first agreement of its kind between a landlord and tenants in Connecticut. 

In those 13 days, a local tenants union realized just how powerful they’d become. 

Going Against ​“Goliath”

Ocean is one of New Haven’s largest landlords, owning roughly 300 New Haven properties containing approximately 1,000units. The company is notorious for frequent appearances in housing court: Tenants’ complaints have resulted in the city’s housing agency issuing thousands of code violations. According to an analysis of city records I conducted for the New Haven Independent, as of August, Ocean allowed nearly 94% of its rental licenses to expire, substantially diminishing any chance these properties would be inspected for safety and quality. 

A representative for both Ocean and the company’s owner, Shmuel (Shmulik) Aizenberg, declined to comment for this story.

The evictions came at a stressful, uncertain time for the union. A few weeks prior, Ocean lit the fuse that would eventually spark the evictions by beginning to call the residents of Elizabeth Apartments, the 70-unit building in which BSTU is based, to tell them their rent was going up 20 to 30%. These increases ranged from $220 to as high as $285, according to internal data collected by the union, all but guaranteeing some residents would be displaced. Among those affected were seniors, tenants on fixed income and multiple disabled tenants, including Michael Portee, an intellectually disabled man with epilepsy, who was hit with a $250 increase.

“We went into a panic because he works but his paycheck is not enough to afford rent,” says Marcia Tourangeau, Portee’s sister and caretaker, who lives across the street from the property. “[The rent increase] would be a devastating blow to him. Why would you do that to him, to anybody in the building? It’s not fair — to him or to anybody like him. Not caring if he’s going to be able to get a place or be on the street.” 

The rent increases were the catalyst for the first real battle for BSTU, a one-year-old tenant union founded by labor organizer and Elizabeth tenant Sarah Giovanniello, which had, thus far, mainly managed housing inspections and taken Ocean to court for code violations. Its building-wide capabilities had not yet been tested. 

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