Fair Rent Commissions draw calls for clearer rules, transparency and training

A run of bills and public testimony before the Housing Committee focused on the operation and authority of municipal fair rent commissions. Witnesses included municipal fair rent directors, landlord and apartment-owner groups, legal services attorneys, and state lawmakers. The proposals under discussion ranged from increased funding for housing programs to statutory changes that would alter hearing procedures and oversight for fair rent commissions.

Representative Kara Rochelle told the committee that she supports expanding access to fair rent commissions for small towns and asked for regional coordination so small municipalities could share resources. Wildalise Bermudez, director of the City of New Haven's Fair Rent Commission, urged the committee to oppose SB 616 (which would require municipal fair rent commissions to follow the same procedures as state administrative agencies), saying "The fair rent commissions are not state agencies. They are municipal bodies of municipal residents, not professionals." Bermudez warned that imposing full state-level administrative procedures on volunteer municipal commissions would hamper recruitment and function.

Landlord and housing-provider groups pressed an opposite point: they told the committee that many municipal commissions operate without consistent rules or training, producing variable outcomes. Don J. Roberts of the Connecticut Apartment Association said some proposals would overwhelm volunteer commissions and should not become unfunded mandates. Attorney and housing practitioners further described examples where commissions lacked consistent processes for cross-examination or written bylaws, and they asked the legislature to require clearer public-facing procedures and commissioner training to protect due process for both landlords and tenants.

Legal-aid and tenant-advocacy witnesses urged balance: some cautioned that attempting to require municipal commissions to operate exactly like state administrative agencies could make hearings overly formal and inaccessible to the lay volunteers who staff many commissions. Connecticut Legal Services and other advocates…