ADDRESSING CLIENTS’ NEEDS DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

May 18, 202

Webinar on Mortgage Relief and the Black Community:  The National Fair Housing Alliance and Representative Maxine Waters will host an on-line discussion of the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shut down on the Black Community. The event will take place Monday, May 18 from 8- 9:15 p.m.  To listen, click here.

Call to Action:  Tenants in Connecticut are calling on Governor Lamont to stop all evictions indefinitely and cancel the obligation to pay rent. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown, over 50% of renters across the state were cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income on housing costs. Connecticut leads the nation in income inequality, and this burden is disproportionately shouldered by Black and brown communities: nearly 60% of Black renters and 55% of Hispanic renters are cost-burdened compared to 43% of white renters. For more information on tenants’ demands and to sign the petition, click here. To participate in the daily actions on Mondays and Wednesday, click here.

Important Deadlines:  Tenants who did not pay May rent were supposed to notify their landlords in writing by May 10, 2020 that they could not pay rent due to full or partial unemployment, or significant loss in revenue or increase in expenses due to the pandemic to get a 60-day extension to pay the rent.

If you did not send a letter by May 10, you should still use the letter and text templates to request rental payment extension from your landlord, click here.

There is no extension for June rent. If you did not pay April rent, that is due in June also.

Resources for tenants and homeowners:

  • Click here to understand current tenant rent relief options in Spanish and English.
  • Click here to find more details in our tenant FAQ.
  • Click here to understand current rights for homeowners in Spanish and English.
  • Click here to understand how fair housing can protect you during the COVID-19 crisis. (Recently added Tagalog and Khmer translations to our guidance now available in 11 languages.)
  • Need to have your subsidized rent recalculated due to income loss? The Rent Recalculation Request tool can be accessed here in Spanish and English.
  • To sign up for our daily update fill out the form

What happened on May 15, 2020:

  • Judicial Branch stays executions until July 1: The Judicial Branch issued an order that stopped the use of executions in all summary process cases and post-foreclosure ejectments until July 1, 2020. The prior date had been June 1. No one can be moved out of their homes until after July 1.
  • Judicial Branch extends Law Days in foreclosure cases: In foreclosure cases, the Law Day is the last day a homeowner owns their home before losing title. For pending cases with Law Days before July 7, the Court has extended the Law Day to July 7. The loan servicer or bank must file a notice of the new Law Day. To see the court’s order, click here.
  • Rates of infection of people who are African-American or Latino more than double the rate of whites: Even though Connecticut ranks as the 4th healthiest state in the country, it ranks 41st among all states for racial/ethnic disparities in health status. The Hartford Courant recommends strengthening families of color by improving their housing, food security, childcare, and mental health. For more on the Courant’s recommendations, click here.
  • 40 prohibited eviction cases filed since the governor issued E. 7X: On April 10, Governor Lamont issued E.O. 7X which prohibited landlords from serving Notices to Quit or filing new summary process complaints. Since that time, 40 new prohibited residential eviction cases have been filed by landlords with the courts. While 34 of the cases have been dismissed by the courts, it is not clear what the tenants know about their right to stay in their apartments after the dismissal of their eviction cases.
  • Hundreds of foreclosure cases continue to be filed: On March 19, HUD announced that its insured mortgages would be subject to a bar on new foreclosure actions or post-foreclosure eviction actions until May 19. That order has been extended until at least June 30, 2020. On March 31, Governor Lamont announced he had reached an agreement with more than 50 Connecticut banks and credit unions in which the banks and credit unions agreed not to begin any new foreclosures for at least 60 days and all late or missed mortgage payments would not be submitted to credit reporting agencies for 90 days. Since the Governor’s agreement with Connecticut banks and credit unions, 346 new foreclosure actions have been filed, including 17 by the covered banks.
  • Mortgages in forbearance continue to grow: The mortgage industry company Black Knight reported that, as of the week ended May 5, 8% of all mortgages and 12.4% of FHA/VA mortgages are in forbearance. These totals plus recent projections by Black Knight make it likely that seriously delinquent mortgages (90+ days delinquent) will be worse than at the peak of the Great Recession (8.13% in Connecticut) by August. For more information on this story, click here.
  • Outreach: On Monday, May 18, Finn Darby Hudgens participated in a workshop with Cesar Aleman of the Center for Leadership and Justice on Addressing Racial Disparities in Homelessness During COVID-10. The webinar will be archived on the website of Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.
  • Outreach: Staff attorney Pamela Heller will join the Connecticut Coalition Against Domestic Violence on Wednesday, May 20th from 1:45-2:45 for a Facebook Live discussion on current housing issues facing survivors of domestic violence. Login to Facebook to access their live event.
  • Outreach: The Center is hosting a remote training on the design and construction requirements of the federal Fair Housing Act on Wednesday, May 27 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. This program is registered with the American Institute of Architects. Architects will receive up to 6 continuing education HSW credits. For more information, click here. To register, click here.
  • Outreach: Staff continue to hold fair housing trainings and COVID-19 housing resource workshops via Zoom with social service agencies, direct service providers, and invested stakeholders. If your agency would find a short resource webinar or fair housing training helpful during this crisis please contact Shaznene Hussain, the Center’s Education and Outreach Coordinator, at Shussain@ctfairhousing.org

 

More external COVID-19 resources can be found on our website here.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR FAIR HOUSING RIGHTS IN ENGLISH, SPANISH, MANDARIN, VIETNAMESE, FARSI, RUSSIAN, ITALIAN, KREYOL, ARABIC, KHMER, AND TAGALOG, CLICK HERE.

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