It began with a knock on my door – a neighbor with a petition to form a tenants union. I didn’t know what to expect, but I did know that our new landlord, Ocean Management, was ignoring my maintenance issues while jeopardizing my housing security. Maybe a union could help. I signed on.

Then we had a union meeting. For the first time since I moved in three years prior, I met my neighbors. We talked, shared stories, and shared complaints. We got a local reporter to cover the story, marking our first public action as a union. We officially became the Blake Street Tenants Union.

Next, we asked our landlord for a meeting and he agreed to sit down with us. That’s when he told us he was going to kick us all out so he could renovate and charge higher rents. As a young tenant union we hadn’t found our power yet, but we didn’t want to lose our homes for his greed. About half the complex moved out in fear, but the 30 of us who remained were ready to fight to stay in our apartments — our homes.

Things got worse. With all the construction debris from the renovations, there were loose nails all over the property causing flat tires, garbage everywhere, broken glass, smoke detectors beeping, and the lights had all gone out in some common areas. So, we got New Haven housing inspectors involved in cleaning up the property and resolving some basic safety issues.

We learned to take action as a union. We signed petitions, held press conferences, and after being left on month-to-month leases for almost two years, we demanded a lease. We wanted stability. Ocean wanted a rent increase of about $300 for each person. We asked to negotiate and they agreed in good faith, or so we thought. After one round of negotiations, they retaliated and gave us notices to quit for “lapse of time,” the first step in a no-fault eviction.

We fought back. We organized a march from New Haven City Hall to Ocean’s offices. We got a lawyer and countersued for retaliation. We delivered another petition. And it worked. They rescinded the notices to quit and came back to the negotiation table and we won a two-year lease.

We built community. Throughout this time, amidst the stress of a mass eviction threat, we worked together as neighbors and friends. We learned to depend on one another, to show up for each other, and to support each other when things felt scary.

Now it’s time to push for more protection. It’s time to support S.B. 257, known as the Just Cause Eviction Protection bill. This bill will prevent landlords like ours from doing what he planned to do if we hadn’t stopped him: using “lapse of time,” no-fault evictions to empty apartment complexes of existing residents, disrupt stable households and neighborhoods, and inflate the cost of rent for our whole community.

It’s time to regulate greed in the housing market. My landlord was going to pull 70 affordable housing units off the market, “renovate” them, and charge luxury prices. Units in our apartment complex that went for $900 just a few years ago are now going for nearly $2,000 because they’re “renovated,” yet they have just as many maintenance issues as the unrenovated apartments. Many of the newer tenants are now struggling to pay their excessively high rents. A number of people have already moved out after facing eviction for falling behind on their rent payments.

While we can’t undo the rent increases, we can make sure the complex is protected from the landlord trying to evict people whose leases have expired. We can pass S.B. 257 and make sure that if a landlord is going to evict, it’s because they have a cause. And with Just Cause, every tenant —  and every tenant union -– has a tool to keep us safe during negotiations. If the landlord can’t evict us without a cause, we can fight harder at the negotiation table for fair rent prices and quality maintenance practices without the fear of retaliation.

I stand by my neighbors, my friends. I want them to have safe, stable housing. I want their kids to stay in the same schools. I want to lend my neighbor a kitchen ingredient because they ran out. I want to live as a member of my community, unafraid that my landlord will kick me or my neighbors out for no reason. I want to be protected under S.B 257.

Jessica Stamp is a member of the Blake Street Tenants Union.