When fire broke out in David Richardson’s apartment complex, the Hartford resident was temporarily housed by the city in the Super 8 motel in Hartford, where he said he contended with roaches, mold and drug activity around him while unable to prepare meals for himself.
The 62-year-old remembers the six-month period from August 2024 until January 2025 — he was unable to find permanent housing, leaving him for months in the motel until the city moved him to a hotel with a kitchenette. He said the city gave him $4,000 in relocation funding, which he said was not enough to cover costs following the fire at his home at the Concord Hills Apartments on Sherbrooke Avenue.
After hearing such concerns, Councilman Josh Michtom has proposed an amendment to the city’s tenant relocation ordinance which he said guarantees a certain level of services for displaced tenants and also makes it easier to collect the cost of services from landlords.
“There are a lot of reports of tenants displaced by fires and in unsanitary, unsafe motels for many months,” Michtom said. “What we have seen is that the city does not do a good job of addressing the needs of these most vulnerable people. We should have rules and procedures that work.”
Michtom said the current ordinance leaves a lot of room for the city to fail the tenant and for the landlord to sue the city.
“What the (proposed) amendment does is it lays out a lot of details on what the city must do and puts the landlords on notice,” he said.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said his administration is “committed to ensuring that no Hartford resident is left behind when disaster strikes.
“I am working closely with Councilman Michtom and the City Council to strengthen our relocation efforts,” he said. “We share the goal of creating a system that holds negligent landlords accountable while providing displaced families with the stability and support they deserve during their most difficult moments.”
Hartford Fire Chief Rodney Barco said 450 people were relocated in 2024 and 530 in 2025 as a result of fires.
Hannah Srajer, president of the Connecticut Tenants Union, said people dealing with trauma from being displaced are also subjected to multiple other traumas because city policies are not up to date or working properly.
Referring to the Concord Hills fire, she said 60 families including Richardson were displaced and struggled with the quality of the temporary housing they received.
“They were displaced for five months,” she said. “Initially they did not have kitchen access and did not have safe living conditions. There was unsafe criminal activity happening under temporary housing and folks experienced serious food insecurity in not having the ability to make their own meals.”
“Storage was not provided which led to belongings being stolen,” she said.
She added that moving support is poorly managed or not provided. There were discrepancies among what tenants received, which was another challenge.
The relocation funding of $4,000 per unit has not been updated since the 1970s, she said.
“It is not accessible to tenants directly which poses a host of problems,” she said.
Majority Leader Thomas “TJ” Clarke said he has expressed some fundamental concerns about the hotels that are used for temporarily relocating people displaced by fires.
“I would love to work with the administration on coming up with some alternative cities that people can be relocated to, especially those that have families,” he said.
Richardson said changes are needed to speed up getting assistance to residents who are displaced.
“They need a provision for meals because the food is much more expensive,” he said. “I do hope that this ordinance is changed so people would not have to go through the hardship, pain and suffering that I went through. Hartford is a great city and the mayor needs to respect his residents.”
A public hearing concerning the amended ordinance is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Jan. 20.
