Boxes and furniture sit on wooden pallets in a warehouse.
Belongings of evicted people in New Haven are stored at a warehouse at New Haven Public Works Department, waiting to be picked up. Five to six evictions take place a week on average, said Tariq Dasent, an employee at the department. Yehyun Kim / ctmirror.org

Tenants advocates, a court marshals’ representative, and landlords groups spoke out on two bills — one before the Housing Committee and another being considered by the Insurance and Real Estate Committee — seeking to eliminate the requirement that towns store the possessions of tenants who are evicted.

Senate Bill 1045 would designate any personal belongings of evicted renters “abandoned,” and they would be disposed of within 45 to 60 days. House Bill 6785 would allow towns to opt out of paying to store items removed from evicted renters’ domiciles.

Many tenants aren’t able to move their possessions when they’re evicted, and municipalities store them for at least 15 days. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities’ President Tom Dun spoke in favor of both bills, calling storage of the items an “unfunded mandate.”

Avatar photo

Ginny MonkHousing and Children's Issues Reporter

gmonk@ctmirror.org

Ginny is CT Mirror's children's issues and housing reporter a Report for America corps member. She covers a range of topics including child welfare to affordable housing and zoning. Ginny grew up in Arkansas and graduated from the University of Arkansas' Lemke School of Journalism in 2017. She began her career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she covered housing, homelessness, and juvenile justice on the investigations team. Along the way Ginny was awarded a 2019 Data Fellowship through the Annenberg Center for Health Journalism at the University of Southern California. She moved to Connecticut in 2021 and covered housing for Hearst Connecticut Media.