Bridgeport's Eviction Drop: Tenant Success, Disparities Persist

0:00It's April 30th. This is Hartford News Today, local news powered by AI. Bridgeport saw a rally on House Street back on April 15th, 2024, backing tenants hit with evictions from a new out-of-state. Landlord. Turns out, the Bridgeport area led all track cities with the biggest drop in eviction filings. Princeton University's eviction lab report for 2025 shows Connecticut's filings way below the national average across 38. These in 10 states, Fairfield County topped the charts nationally for that decline, too. No big new laws explain it, but spots like this often have tenant-friendly rules in play, like rights to council programs or steeper filing fees for landlords. Connecticut already packs some of those protections, plus Bridgeport's solid fair-ranked commission and rising tenant rights know-how seem to help folks. Fight back successfully. Still, the winds hit uneven renters of color face a heavy year load. In Fairfield County, black renters are just 19 percent of all renters, but

1:04made up 36 percent of evictions last year. Hartford County mirrors that national pattern, with black folks evicted their rates way higher than white renters. Experts like Grace Hartley from the eviction lab point to those disparities standing out locally. Connecticut Tenets Union VP. Luke Melonacos. Harrison figures its tenant organizing an awareness stepping up, not fresh legislation making things. Tougher or pricier for landlords. That growing push from renters could keep bending the curve, even as inequities linger in the numbers.