In an interview with the Bloomfield Patch, Mayor Raymond McCarthy stated that rent increases were not widespread enough to intervene and that landlords would not be able to account for costs with a 5 percent rent cap governed by the CPI now under 3 percent.  Mind you, these are multi-millionaire landlords, with property in some cases all over the state.  Are they really going broke?

Let's be honest about this.  The Mayor also stated that the Tenants Association was unwilling to drive tenants to court when no judge has issued a court date.  We cannot go to a court house when the county has not set a date for our case.  And when we go in to court we will have no standard of protection because the mayor is more concerned with the landlords’ millions than tenants being forced into poverty. 

I met a tenant yesterday whose social security check is $1,300 a month and his 11 percent rent increase brings him up to a $1,000 dollars a month.  Mind you, this man lives in a studio apartment and has no bedroom.  His rent 11 years ago was only $550 a month.  That’s a 100 percent increase in little more then a decade.  He has $5,600 dollars in his life savings and has told me this is going to pay his funeral expenses.

He is one of the lucky ones.  Most tenants on Broad Street, TroyTowers, Franklin Street and Park are on fixed incomes, getting $950 a month from social security and paying over $1,300 in rent.  In one tenant’s case, she is getting $859 in social security and her rent has increased to $1,450.  She received a 39 percent increase in just 2 years and is paying $4,500 more in rent in 2012 then she did in 2010. 

How did we get to this point, where 100 percent of people’s monthly income can only paying for 70 percent of their monthly rent?  Are we not afforded the luxury to eat or clothe our families?  I guess having a car is now out of the question.  How does the mayor not see this as an emergency? 

The businesses in town are losing customers.  This is not because they are bad businesses or have bad ideas.  It’s because people have no disposable income to spend.  If 100 percent of your income goes to the rent and you are still 300 dollars short, what money is there left to go shopping in Bloomfield Center? 

Personally, my rent is $1381 yet my income for the month is only $1050.  These businesses need customers and tenants need a break.  If tenants have a few hundred dollars extra to spend, it will go to our local businesses in town.  But we can’t use the rent money to feed our children. 

Mr. Mayor, stop defending the millionaire landlords.  They are not broke and won’t be.  The tenants are broke and will be unless you have a heart and help us. 

Kevin Lindahl

Vice President, Bloomfield Tenants Organization

973-980-9929