08/25/2023
Megalandlord Ocean Management is seeking to evict 15 tenants from their Blake St apartments. In June, they announced a 30% rent hike out of nowhere. If renters can’t pay up by September 1, they will be evicted.
It is very positive that tenants have organized into the Blake St tenants union and staged a protest in front of Ocean Management’s headquarters. The landlords have, however, failed to negotiate with the union about the evictions or lowering rents. The union must escalate to force them to the table. They should continue organizing protests with solidarity from the local labor movement and other renters. Crucially, they should discuss a rent strike for the next month to stop the evictions. Landlords do not provide any services, they are reliant on our monthly rent. If we don’t pay it, they make no money.
Rents have skyrocketed in New Haven over the past 10 years. To fight back, we can look to Seattle, where Socialist Alternative member and city councilor Kshama Sawant just won a $10 cap on late fees for renters struggling to pay rent, fighting back against attempts by Democratic city councilors to water down that protection.
Workers and students must band together to build a movement for rent control with no loopholes or exemptions. We need to tax the rich to build high quality, permanently affordable public housing. And we need to build a new, independent political party that represents working people and students like us!
(via https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/ocean_of_evictions_shores_retaliation_claims )
