Hartford Business Journal

6 Hartford Business Journal • November 2, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Vote. hfpg.org/vote By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com H artford developer Carlos Mouta is one of the last landlords you'd expect not to be in the market to buy a new apartment building. But right now, as back rents from his 250-plus units concentrated in the city's Parkville section continue to snowball due to the effects of COVID-19, the veteran realty inves- tor says his deal spigot is shut off. "I would absolutely not buy any properties," Mouta said in a recent interview. "If I were to buy some- thing, which I would not, I would buy an empty building rather than buy a building with tenants in it." Mouta is one of many apartment landlords aggrieved since March by state and federal pandemic-related de- crees that have blocked the removal of most nonpaying tenants and stopped new eviction cases from being filed. He said the situation is going to become dire in the months ahead, for both landlords and tenants, leading to foreclosures, missed tax payments, less available housing and even infes- tations as some property owners cut back on basic services. "The water is receding, the tsu- nami's coming," Mouta said. "How big is that wave going to be when it comes back, how far is it going to go?" Mouta, who declined to detail exactly how many of his tenants have stopped pay- ing rent, stressed that his predic- tions were about the apartment market in general — not his own portfolio — based on discussions with numerous other landlords. The eviction moratoriums, which will expire at year's end barring any further government action, aim to keep residents housed and with a safe place to quarantine amid an unprecedented health and economic crisis that caused more than 250,000 residents to lose their jobs at the pan- demic's April peak, making it harder to make ends meet. But the situation has also placed a heavy burden on some landlords, who argue they are being forced to take losses that will likely last well past 2020, as courts are expected to strug- gle to process an anticipated wave of eviction filings starting in January. "The dam is going to break some- where," said John Souza, president of the Connecticut Coalition of Property Owners. "You're ask- ing these small business people to shoulder more and more burden." Analysis by global advisory firm Stout pegs the current past-due rent total in Connecticut at as much as $171 million, which could reach $354 million by January. Meantime, more than 99,000 Connecticut renters were behind on their rent payments as of mid- October, according to a U.S. Census Bureau estimate. Even with the end of the eviction bans just a few months away, land- lords are worried the policies may be extended further and skeptical about what they'll be able to recoup as well as how quickly they'll regain possession of their apartments. "They're never going to be able to pay you back if they owe $7,000 or $8,000," predicted Souza, who said that many of his family-owned com- pany's 275 Greater Hartford ten- ants have continued to pay rent this year, but that a number of coalition members have been less fortunate. "The landlords are going to end up holding the bag on that." The state is trying to help, us- ing some of its $1.4 billion in fed- eral CARES Act funding. Gov. Ned Lamont announced recently that he would double the size of a rental- assistance fund to $40 million, but housing advocates argue more will Ticking Time Bomb? With eviction wave looming, CT apartment landlords report varying degrees of distress Jeff Ferony, president of Glastonbury-based Trio Properties, which manages nearly two dozen area apartment developments, said COVID-19 has led to higher vacancies and sluggish leasing in some properties. HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER CT eviction filings Eviction filings are down in Connecticut this year despite the pandemic because of strict state and federal eviction moratoriums. Evictions Year Month Filed 2020 September 200 2020 August 141 2020 July 158 2020 June 33 2020 May 24 2020 April 170 2020 March 1,247 2020 February 1,472 2020 January 1,665 Source: CT Fair Housing Center

• Cover