Sabrina, Norwalk’s fair housing officer, told the Fair Housing Commission during its meeting that the office has received 20 complaints since the prior meeting and that 14 cases remain active.
"Since our last meeting, we've received 20 complaints," Sabrina said. "Out of the cases ... I have 14 that are still currently active and under investigation or mediation."
The office referred three matters to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for review and submitted two matters to a legal aid service, Sabrina said. Two of the HUD referrals involved requests for disability-related reasonable accommodations, she said; the third was described as a landlord–tenant dispute the officer believed included racial discrimination, and that tenant is now moving out.
The office has updated its public materials and outreach. "The website now also includes a link to a reasonable accommodation letter generator that's powered through Connecticut Fair Housing," Sabrina said, and she added new "know your rights" pamphlets for every protected class and links to the office’s social accounts. The generator is intended to standardize language in accommodation requests and reduce staff time spent drafting letters.
Sabrina said the office will provide a virtual fair-housing training for Norwalk Housing Authority staff "next week (date in meeting given as 'the 20 fifth')." She also reported recent social-media reach figures: more than 1,200 accounts reached in the past 30 days and 41 visits to the office’s LinkedIn page, with the month’s top post encouraging voter participation in a local primary.
She told commissioners the office received a racially charged phone call last week, which she documented. "It did have some racially charged remarks ... There were no threats. There were no slurs. I didn't feel unsafe at all," Sabrina said. The call lasted about 20 minutes, she said, and she has saved the number and will track similar incidents.
Commissioners asked for clarifications about referral pathways and the investigation process. Sabrina described her intake practice: callers email or drop off leases, texts, emails, photos and utility bills; she reads all documents and then involves colleagues when cases include fair rent issues. She said the office is using the accommodation-letter tool and clearer public materials to reduce routine intake time.
The commission approved the minutes from the Aug. 18, 2025, meeting and later adjourned; no substantive policy changes or new enforcement actions were adopted at the session.
The commission’s staff said they will continue tracking complaints and outreach activity and will update commissioners at the next monthly meeting.