Some landlords are frustrated and some tenants say they are relieved after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's latest extension of the eviction moratorium.
“We feel like we’re the last people in line to get any help, unfortunately,” John Souza, head of the Coalition of Connecticut Property Owners, said.
He said everyone should care about this issue because it impacts the amount of housing that’s available.
“Landlords are saying they’re going to sit it out for awhile. They’re not going to rent to anybody anymore until this whole thing is over,” Souza said.
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He added: “Landlords have already raised their standards tremendously.”
Renters say the situation has been stressful.
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“My life has changed drastically because of this whole thing,” Brandon Meuse of Groton said.
“The car I drive, where I live, I’m even looking at different jobs now,” he said.
Meuse said he’s behind on his rent and that he’s trying to work with his landlord to access federal rental assistance.
“They’re slow. Unite CT is slow and people don’t know about it,” Meuse said.
Erin Kemple, head of the CT Fair Housing Center, said in order to avoid eviction tenants must file the CDC declaration with their landlord
“Tenants should not be moved out without having a court determine if the cdc moratorium applies and if the tenant therefore is allowed to stay,” Kemple said.
She said she has no idea how many people have filed these declarations. In Connecticut before getting evicted- a tenant and landlord must apply for federal funding.
The federal program called Unite CT has doled out over $47 million of the $400 million to more than 2,700 landlords.
“If there’s 85,000 tenants who are behind on rent only 6% of those tenants have applied to Unite CT. So they’re still not reaching a majority of people who are behind on rent,” Kemple said.
Meuse is waiting for more money from the program.
“Lately I’ve been a bit anxious and I’ve been thinking about ways to reduce my anxiety,” Meuse said.
Meuse says the CDC extension helps.
“It feels like I have insurance,” Meuse said.
