Blumenthal Statement Regarding Lawsuit Filed Against HUD by Hartford Apartment Residents

(HARTFORD, CT) – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) issued the following statement regarding a lawsuit by Open Community Alliance on behalf of residents of Barbour Gardens, Infill, Clay Arsenal Renaissance Apartments (CARA) apartments against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD): 

“HUD has failed the people of the North End of Hartford despite continued insistence that the federal agency ensure the tenants of Barbour Gardens, Infill and CARA have fair and reasonable opportunity to housing choices throughout the Greater Hartford region,” said Blumenthal. “HUD also ignored their legal responsibility to break up pockets of poverty. They could have done the right thing, instead thumbed their noses at the law. I commend Open Communities Alliance and their partners in seeking legal redress. It should not have come to this.”

In January, Blumenthal led a letter joined by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), U.S. Representative John Larson (CT-01), and Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin sent a letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson to call upon HUD to improve current policies regarding the oversight of Section 8 Housing as well as the promotion of fair housing opportunities.

Tenants affected by the deterioration of the three apartment complexes were met with insufficient HUD policies and oversight as they tried to obtain safe, affordable quality housing.

“The current HUD policies have adversely impacted the city of Hartford’s North End community by allowing dilapidated, unsafe housing to negatively affect the quality of life in these neighborhoods for thousands of families,” the elected official wrote.

“The relocation process was inadequate and did not focus on the immediate and long term needs of the tenants which further imposed substantial hardship on many of them during a time of crisis,” they added.

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