RESEARCH AND REPORTS

The Center regularly conducts systemic research to measure the prevalence of housing discrimination in Connecticut’s housing markets, evaluate access to opportunity and levels of segregation in the state, and assess other systemic fair housing issues.

The Center periodically publishes reports detailing its findings, visit our resources page to learn more. In addition, the Center advocates for the protection and expansion of existing fair housing laws and for public policies and practices that better ensure equal access to housing, protect homeowners’ rights, and foster more integrated, inclusive communities.

In addition, we have published a variety of materials and videos on compliance with federal and state fair housing laws. We also work to identify and challenge discriminatory policies and practices that prevent people from living where they choose.

Decades of discriminatory housing policies and public actions have created two separate and unequal housing markets in Connecticut. These markets are sharply divided across race and ethnicity. White people are more often provided opportunities to increase their housing stability, and people of color are more often locked into a lifetime of renting, bound to live where rental housing is available. Being locked into tenancy in Connecticut means that these households are unable to build wealth through housing equity, unable to ensure their housing is safe and habitable, and unable to stop the loss of their housing through eviction. Women of color are even more vulnerable to the effects of the state’s housing crisis.

Prior to the pandemic, in Connecticut, landlords filed almost 20,000 evictions a year. These evictions occurred almost exclusively in the state’s major cities. CT Data Collaborative and the Connecticut Fair Housing Center have analyzed five years of eviction filings to better understand the eviction crisis in Connecticut. The report, authored by Center staff and data scientists at the CT Data, analyzes five years of eviction filings in Connecticut and details several findings.

Click on the map to interact with the Connecticut Eviction Tool.

Main Findings:

  • Black and Hispanic/Latino renters have cases filed against them at the highest rates.
  • Overall, Black renters are over three times more likely than white renters to face eviction, and Hispanic/Latino renters are over two times more likely than white renters.
  • Eviction cases are disproportionately filed against females, and even more disproportionately against Black and Hispanic/Latina females.
  • Renters who do not have a lawyer are nearly twice as likely to have a removal order issued against them.
  • Nearly half of all eviction cases are filed in just five municipalities: Hartford, Bridgeport, Waterbury, New Haven, and New Britain.