EAST LYME, Conn.—The Connecticut Tenants Union and its working-class allies have launched a boycott of Alpha Capital. In a petition to support the boycott, the Tenants Union is calling on all people to refuse to engage in business with Alpha Capital. Refuse to rent apartments, refuse to buy condos, refuse to sell or buy properties with this horrible landlord, they say.
Over the last year, tenant unions in Southeast Connecticut have gone public, demanding that their landlord, Alpha Capital Funds, come to the table to negotiate fair leases and address tenant needs. In response, Alpha is trying to bust organized, multi-racial, and multi-generational communities.
Tenant Union representatives from New London and East Lyme assembled alongside their working-class allies to announce the boycott and to explain why this next stage of struggle is necessary.
Landlord wants $318,000 from each tenant
The Bay Point Tenant Union called on all people to boycott Alpha Capital because that landlord won’t recognize their union, and their homes are at risk of being bought out from under them.
Tonya, a disabled member of the Bay Point Tenant Union, explained that after her tenant union went public over the summer, Alpha Capital responded by trying to convert the apartments to condominiums. Alpha Capital told the residents they would have to pay $318,000 to keep their home, or their unit would be sold off.
Chris, an 82-year-old member of the Bay Point Tenant Union, said he is cold at night because the building is in disrepair and Alpha won’t make repairs.
Judy, a retiree who’s lived in the building for 23 years, told the assembly that “We’re not going to put up with it, we’re being gouged.” She said her union is going to stick together and fight until Alpha Capital CEO Tyler Smith comes to the table to negotiate fair and equitable leases.
Fair Rent Commission freezes rents
The New London Tenant Unions called on all people to boycott Alpha Capital because that landlord will not recognize their union and will not stop trying to evict union members.
Daz, speaking on behalf of the New London tenants, explained that the union was able to protect their members from eviction. When Alpha Capital bought their building, the new landlord immediately sent eviction notices to all of the tenants—half of whom are elderly and disabled. The tenants quickly mobilized to form a union and asserted Connecticut’s law that shields the elderly and disabled from no-fault eviction.
In response to organizing, Alpha violated state law by retaliating against the union members with a demand for 40% rent increases. Again, the union mobilized and filed complaints with the New London Fair Rent Commission. The Fair Rent Commission asserted that tenant organizing is a protected act and Alpha Capital violated the law by retaliating against the union members. The Commission ordered rents frozen for the next six months and ordered Alpha to give the tenants new leases.
Community support
Rev. Perry of Mount Olive Church in New London explained that his community is in crisis. The temperature was below freezing, and children and seniors were homeless and suffering on our streets. He said it was important for all moral people to support housing as a human right and to put people before profit.
New London City Councilwoman Shineika Fareus explained that the eviction and homelessness crisis in Connecticut is not an accident. She said mega-landlords like Alpha Capital are violating our human rights by treating housing as a commodity.
Commenting on Alpha’s behavior, she said, “Eviction is not a development tool, it’s displacement.” She said working-class power exists. She called on working people to join the boycott and that collective bargaining is a form of racial and disability justice.
State Representative Nick Gauthier also spoke in support of standing in solidarity with the Connecticut Tenants Union and joining the boycott against Alpha Capital. He said private equity firms harm humanity. He called for a ban on private equity in housing and healthcare.
State Representative Dan Gaiewski also spoke in support of joining the boycott against Alpha Capital and supporting the Union. He said it was his job to support tenant organizing by passing Just Cause legislation that would protect all tenants from arbitrary eviction.
Join the boycott
In her closing remarks, CT Tenants Union President Hannah Srajer held up ten feet of paper bearing hundreds of signatures of people who have already signed the petition to Boycott Alpha Capital. She spoke into the cameras and said for the last six years the CT Tenants Union has been organizing to put people before corporate greed.
“We pay the bills,” she said, explaining that Alpha Capital needs working people to pay their rents, to buy their condos, to do business with their company, in order to continue to service their predatory loans and mortgages. If working people can put a dent in Alpha Capital’s income, they can bring Alpha Capital to its knees. “The people will win, the boycott has begun!”
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