A number of tenants advised the Information that regardless of repeated complaints to landlords and the Livable Metropolis Initiative, nothing was performed to deal with the possibly harmful residing conditions.
Megan Vaz and Maggie Grether
staff reporters
The mold that C. found growing in his apartment (Courtesy of C.)
When C. began renting a basement apartment in New Haven in 2017, she found mold growing in her son’s bedroom. C., who has been granted anonymity to protect her privacy, contacted property owner Ocean Management and the Livable City Initiative, the New Haven agency responsible for investigating housing complaints, about the issue.
Despite visits from LCI and the New Haven Health Department, the mold was never removed. C. said Ocean Management only sent someone to check for mold after she and her family cleaned the room themselves.
“We were in quarantine, stuck in a room for a long period of time,” C said. “Then one day, we just put our masks on and wiped them off.”
After the Department of Health got involved, C. discovered another problem: her son had tested positive for elevated blood lead levels. In response to the lead test, the Health Department moved her family to another Ocean Management property, where the rent was higher.
When the Health Department came to examine the new apartment, they also found traces of lead there.
“My youngest son is now walking and the leash is on the floor,” said C.
Ocean Management did not respond to a request for comment.
Most homes were built before 1978, the year lead paint was banned in residential buildings, meaning the vast majority of homes in New Haven contain lead in their structures. The News previously reported that cases of lead exposure they occur disproportionately among children living in low-income, older, and poorly maintained properties; New Haven’s percentage of children under the age of six with elevated blood lead levels is also more than triple that of the state.
According to Francesca Maviglia, a graduate associate at Yale Medical School and an organizer for the Connecticut Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, C.’s long-standing struggle to get the landlord to address poor living conditions is not uncommon among renters. of New Haven.
“Many tenants are very skeptical of the system because, in many cases, they have tried to use [the LCI] and they haven’t really seen any of the issues resolved in a timely manner and they haven’t seen the owner held accountable when they should,” Maviglia said. “From our perspective, it looks like the process with the city is broken and the trust between tenants is broken.”
LCI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Two other current Ocean Management tenants who requested anonymity spoke about overheating and subheating issues in the apartments. One reported that a hot water heater blew up, leaving his apartment with freezing water, while the other tenant linked the excessively hot conditions to an asthma attack and visits to the doctor’s office.
C. said her family also dealt with inadequate heating during winters. When she complained about heating issues, Ocean Management provided a heater, but insufficient insulation in the walls left her and her young children exposed to the cold for long periods of time.
Ronnie Cotten, a veteran who lives in New Haven on a fixed income, told the News he experienced an infestation of mice and rats while renting at 33 Hazel St. Cotten. He attributed his worsening asthma to the feces and urine of the vermin, which he said sent him to the hospital. According to Cotten, LCI visited his rental three times, but conditions did not improve.
Cotten’s landlord could not be reached for this story.
“I saw that I wasn’t getting anywhere and I felt like I was getting sicker and sicker,” Cotten said.
Cotten said she left that rental on her own and moved into a hotel. He is currently homeless and is trying to get a Section Eight housing voucher.
Maviglia said LCI’s inspection process is often characterized by poor communication with tenants and a lack of follow through. She said tenants often experience delays: If they miss a call from LCI or inspectors show up while they’re at work, the process is delayed.
“There’s a lack of structure for tenants to really get involved in the process, know what’s going on, know what the status of their report is, know what the follow-up is going to be, and then see the results,” Maviglia said.
danya keene, associate professor of social behavioral sciences at the Yale School of Public Health, has extensively researched the relationship between housing policy, the affordable housing crisis, and population health equity. She told the News that her team has conducted interviews with renters across the state of Connecticut, who have often reported living in “terribly poor housing conditions.”
Keene linked the health problems renters can develop to high housing costs, arguing that obtaining housing with better living conditions is difficult for low-income and socially disadvantaged residents.
“Youtheir lack of affordable housing limits the ability of renters to choose healthy housing or to walk with their feet when they are dissatisfied with housing conditions,” Keene wrote to the News. “Tenants’ ability to choose healthy housing is further limited by other barriers; For example, many landlords will not rent to someone with an eviction record, a criminal record, or someone with poor credit.”
Keene advocated for the importance of rental assistance as a means for low-income families to avoid poor health impacts of housing. She also cited a study stating that low-income children living in public housing were less likely to report elevated blood lead levels than children of similar economic conditions living in rental housing, making public regulation vital to the results of health.
The City does not publish data on active housing code complaints or information on specific cases, which may include impacts on the health of tenants.
“It seems to me that a regulatory review is needed that includes periodic random testing and a well-structured and accountable reporting system to track the statistics of housing violations and their potential public health impacts,” a student at the Yale School of Public Health who currently lives in an Ocean Management property wrote to the news.
There is a total of 59 open cases reporting children with elevated blood lead levels in the city of New Haven.
