Self-Storage Crunch Reflects Renters In Flux
by
Thomas Breen
| Aug 4, 2021 9:45 am
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Fair Haven
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Wooster Square
The line is backed up for spots at local self-storage centers—thanks primarily to college students leaving town for the summer, but also to rising rents and monopolization of the low-income real estate market.
That was the word from customers and staffers interviewed at city storage sites, where it has become difficult to land a spot to store belongings.
Bonnie Zapata was one of those customers. She put on a fresh pair of socks while sitting in the front passenger seat of an SUV parked outside of a self-storage site on State Street.
While Zapata currently lives out of her car, and her four children are living with a friend, most of her and her family’s belongings—furniture, clothing, even jewelry—are parked in a self-storage unit roughly 20 miles away in Bridgeport.
“We don’t have three months up front for rent,” she said about the difficulty of putting together enough cash to cover security deposit and first month’s rent for an apartment in New Haven’s hot housing market. “I can’t afford it. How we gonna live?”
Zapata, who has been homeless for two years, told that story Tuesday while parked in the surface lot in front of the U-Haul self-storage and truck rental location at 1175 State St.
This reporter spoke with Zapata and a handful of other customers, visitors, and staff at self-storage sites across the city in an attempt to understand how the
recent end to the federal eviction moratorium
(since
re-extended
) and the
persistent backlog for state rental relief
have impacted those businesses and the individuals and families who use them.
A staffer at StorQuest at the corner of Ferry Street and River Street said that three families did come by the Fair Haven self-storage site on Monday for the explicit purpose of housing their belongings in advance of likely evictions. But at this point, no one with whom the Independent spoke said that the local self-storage market has seen a spike in demand from what could be a coming tidal wave of evictions.
That doesn’t mean these storage units are currently sitting empty.
Quite the opposite.
Staffers at StorQuest, the U-Haul site at 83 Water St., and the U-Haul site on State Street said that nearly all of their respective self-storage units are currently rented out and full.
That’s not unusual for this time of year, they said, as college students who leave New Haven for the summer make up the lion’s share of their business at this point in the academic calendar cycle.
“We’re a busy location,” one employee at the State Street U-Haul site said. “We’re all booked up.”
“We’re 97 percent occupied,” said an employee at StorQuest on River Street. “Mostly because of college students.”
Recent visits to these self-storage sites reveal more than just the demand among local college students for places to store their property while they’re out of town for the summer.
Interviews with customers and employees also offer an on-the-ground look at New Haven’s booming housing market from the perspective of renters in flux—those on the move, temporarily stashing their belongings at a secure spot separate from where they live, seeking to relocate and in some cases rebuild their lives somewhere new.
While the state eviction moratorium has ended, Gov. Ned Lamont’s
Executive Order 12D
—which
extends through Sept. 30
—requires that landlords first submit an application to
the state’s UniteCT rental relief program
before they file to evict a tenant for nonpayment of rent. That executive order also extends the time that a tenant has to vacate an apartment for nonpayment of rent or lapse of time on a lease from 3 days to 30 days after a landlord first serves a notice to quit.
The CDC’s federal eviction moratorium, meanwhile, expired on Saturday—and was
subsequently revived on Tuesday
. The current moratorium extends through Oct. 3, and applies to areas of the country that currently have “substantial” transmission of Covid-19, including New Haven County.
“How We Gonna Live?”
As a lanky man with braided hair spoke energetically on a cell phone while pacing around the SUV, and as a woman in her 30s sat with her eyes shut in the vehicle’s backseat, Zapata explained why the three friends were currently living out of a car that, at least for the afternoon, was parked outside of a self-storage site on State Street.
“We’re homeless,” she said. “We’re living off of one check. It don’t add up.”
She said that she gets a Social Security disability check once a month for around $775. That and the money she makes via panhandling is nowhere near enough to afford an apartment in most parts of New Haven, she said, particularly when many places she’s looked have asked for first month’s rent plus two months’ rent for a security deposit.
Zapata said that she and her four children, who are currently staying with a friend of hers so that they don’t have to live on the street, store most of their belongings at a self-storage site in Bridgeport.
That costs around $300 per month, she said. “It’s a waste,” because she can hardly afford that much—and is always on the brink of not being able to make the self-storage payment, and therefore losing her belongings while not even having a home.
She said being homeless during the pandemic has been particularly difficult. “Nobody lets us in to use the bathroom or the shower. We’re humiliated.” While the city relocated hundreds of homeless people to area hotels for much of the pandemic, Zapata said that she and her two friends have spent the entire time sleeping outside or in their car.
Zapata said she used to have an apartment on Chapel Street, but ultimately left because she couldn’t afford the rent.
Over the course of the interview, she punctuated nearly every other sentence with the same exclamation.
“How we gonna live?”
“You’re Almost Like A Therapist”
By the back office and parking lot at the
U-Haul self-storage and truck rental site on Water Street in Wooster Square
, Tyffany Cirillo offered a similarly exasperated take on the challenges of finding
a safe, affordable apartment in New Haven
.
“Overall,” she said about the city’s low and middle-income rental housing market, “it’s shitty.”
Cirillo has a unique vantage on New Haven rental housing. She was born and raised in the East Shore, rented apartments across the city in her late teens and early 20s, and currently lives in Bridgeport after being priced out of her home city.
She also works as the site manager at the Wooster Square U-Haul site— where she hears frequently from customers who are fed up with their living situations and need to vent in between moves.
“Being in this job, you’re almost like a therapist,” she said. Sometimes people really unload about their experiences renting in New Haven.
Some of the most frequent complaints she hears from self-storage and truck rental customers is that realtors market apartments as if they are in tip-top condition. When the renter arrives, sometimes from out of state, the actual living space is in a poor state of repair. Even though the prices sometimes push $1,400 for a one-bedroom.
“It seems like there’s a lot of scammers,” she said.
She also hears frequently from renters who say the city’s largest property management companies — such as
Mandy Management
and Pike International — do not keep up with repairs and are difficult to get in touch with. And when a renter wants to move, she said, these growing companies own enough of the market that it’s difficult to find an apartment they don’t control.
“These management companies keep buying and buying all of these properties,” she said. “And they’re putting 2021 prices” on properties that feel decades old. “They need to make sure prices match what’s being offered.”
Taylor Perry, who swung by the Water Street site to pick up a rental truck Tuesday, offered a similarly critical take on New Haven’s rental market.
“Overall, a terrible experience,” she said. She’s in the process of moving from a Pike-owned property on Trumbull Street to an Ocean-owned property on State Street.
Her rent is slated to go up by more than 150 percent, from $970 for her current studio apartment to $1,500 for a one-bedroom. She said she was willing to swallow the dramatic price increase that comes with this move because she was impressed with the quality of her new apartment, and because she needed to get out of her old place after one too many disagreements over maintenance with her former landlord.
“My limit was $1,300,” Perry said about how much she was looking for in rent at a new apartment. But then when searching for a new place to live, she couldn’t find any apartment she would be happy moving into at that price—and so stretched for the higher $1,500 amount so that she could live in a place with all new appliances.
Cirillo also said she’s currently looking for apartments in New Haven, hoping to move back to her home city from Bridgeport. But first, she said, she has to find a place she can afford.
On The Move, To New Jersey
Meanwhile, out at the StorQuest site on River Street, Angel Carraco and Mireya Fernandez visited their newly rented self-storage site for one of the last times before they leave New Haven for good and try to find a new place to live, and work, in New Jersey.
Carraco and Fernandez said that they’ve lived in the same Ocean Management-owned apartment on Quinnipiac Avenue for two years.
Ultimately, rent proved too expensive and they got in enough disputes with management over maintenance — such as who was responsible for shoveling the driveway and sidewalk during snowstorms — that they’ve decided to leave.
Carraco, an auto mechanic, said he hopes to find a new gig fixing cars in New Jersey. Fernandez currently works in the Amazon warehouse in North Haven, and has managed to secure a relocation to a New Jersey warehouse so that she can keep her job even as the couple moves.
When asked for their thoughts on the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium, Fernandez said that—while she and Carraco are not currently, directly impacted—they do know a few people who are now on the brink of homelessness for being behind on rent.
Those include several of Fernandez’s colleagues at Amazon, Fernandez said, as well as her own mother-in-law.
“I feel like it’s pretty messed up,” Carraco said. “We’re trying to make $500 a week, but we still can’t find an an apartment. And if you can’t, you have to spend all your money on hotels.”
They said they’re not sure when they’ll be able to pick up their belongings from their newly rented storage unit on River Street. But, they said, they knew they had to get everything out of their former Quinnipiac Avenue apartment as quickly as possible so as not to incur another month’s rent, even after they had moved out.
Inside StorQuest, an employee confirmed for the Independent that, while many of the crowded facility’s customers are college students who have gone away for the summer, three families did indeed come by on Monday to store their belongings in anticipation of potential evictions.
“They said that, before they got evicted, they wanted to put their things away,” she said.
Tags:
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U-Haul
,
StorQuest
,
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posted by:
anonymous
on August 4, 20219:55am
Having housing for people’s stuff instead of housing for people is a policy choice.
We need to be subsidizing housing developers so that we can get more units produced for people, instead of more units to store stuff.
As it is now, if you are a developer with a certain amount of money but no tax subsidy, you’re going to buy buildings that could have easily been used for housing (like the ones in this article) and just turn them into storage units instead.
posted by:
CityYankee
on August 4, 202110:36am
WIth the extension of the eviction moratorium and the destruction of the small landlord class;the domination of the rental market in an area by big players is inevitable.This is what people wanted— destroy the landlord. Let’s see if the alternative is any better.
Ms.Zapata says she has been homeless for 2 years.That is before COVID ;so COVID only aggravated her situation.But with her income,she will not find a rent anywhere around these parts.
posted by:
THREEFIFTHS
on August 4, 202111:12am
New Jersey officials on Monday announced the launch of Newark Hope Village, an innovative sheltering program that uses shipping containers to house homeless and at-risk residents.
“[This is] part of a larger plan to rid the City of Newark of folks who have to live in the streets because there’s no place for them to go,” said Mayor Ras Baraka, “because the shelters may not be safe or adequate or because they really feel like they don’t want to be in these places. This is why this becomes very important today.”
The facility consists of seven shipping containers with 20 dorm-style rooms that feature a bunk bed, a heater and a small dresser. Two structures on site have shower rooms.
The site has the capability to house up to 40 people since there are bunk beds in each room. The shelter will also be used for those displaced by fires or flooding. Some space will also be allocated for those in need of shelter during cold weather Code Blue Alerts.
https://www.nj.com/essex/2021/03/newark-unveils-homeless-shelter-made-from-converted-shipping-containers.html
posted by: CityYankee on August 4, 2021 10:36am
WIth the extension of the eviction moratorium and the destruction of the small landlord class;the domination of the rental market in an area by big players is inevitable.This is what people wanted— destroy the landlord. Let’s see if the alternative is any better.
The landlord should have demanded a bailout like wall street
Rep. Ilhan Omar Introduces Bill to Cancel All Rent and Mortgage Payments During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The legislation will establish a relief fund for landlords and mortgage holders to cover losses from the cancelled payments
https://omar.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-ilhan-omar-introduces-bill-cancel-all-rent-and-mortgage-payments-during
posted by:
Gretchen Pritchard
on August 4, 202111:36am
It really is time to take some kind of legislative measure to break up the landlord monopolies that have taken over New Haven.
posted by:
Heather C.
on August 4, 20212:13pm
The eviction moratorium is going to be forcing small landlords into selling their properties to the mega landlords and property investors. They need the rent from tenants to pay for the rising costs of repairs and maintenance on 75+ year old buildings, rising utilities and taxes, their mortgages, etc. They can’t afford a year and three quarters of non-payment of rents. They then will sell their properties to mega landlords and investors who then have a monopoly on the rental property market. The mega landlords and investors will slap a coat of paint on it, raise the rents, and force the working poor and lower middle classes out of the city. The new market rate units may depress the rents on older stock housing, But that will only accelerate the handover of all of the rental properties to a small group of landowners creating a monopoly that can set the market rates and force out anyone who can’t afford them. The number of municipalities that have affordable rents for lower and middle class people is shrinking. Where will our essential workers live? Where will restaurant, retail, municipal workers and entry level workers live? How far will their commutes be to get to a job that pays so little and the rents are getting so high that even a full time teacher, public works employee, retail or bank branch manager, or postal worker or nurses or any other service worker can’t afford to live here? If you think it is hard to find workers now, just wait until they have long commutes adding to our traffic issues and raising their living expenses and raising the costs of goods and services in order to pay people enough money that they can afford to work and live here. And what happens when the eviction moratorium eventually ends? If we don’t do something now, the gentrification vampires will take over, and the French Revolution will repeat itself in America, when the divide between the haves and have nots becomes too great to bear.
posted by:
THREEFIFTHS
on August 4, 20214:04pm
@Heather C
What your wrote is truth to power.I have been trying to warn my people about this land grap for six years.But I had JUDAS GOATS SAMBO’S BOOTLICKERS AND LACKEY’S call me a trouble maker.Even told the people read the book city for sale.You see all this Developement is to bring in the New York and New Jersey folks who can pay the big rents.In fact.I tryed to tell folk this last year.
posted by: THREEFIFTHS on October 6, 2020 10:15am
These Buildings will also be for people from New York who are starting to move up here and can afford these rents.In fact just last week I was in New York and I was Chill Out and look at TV.I like old time movies.I was look at The Boys from Brazil with Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier.Good movie by the way.But then.Bam a T V Commercial came on and it was about Apartments in New Haven.It show downtown New Haven,Union Station and Apartments that are being build.They said if you are tired of High New York rents.Move to New Haven.I wish I had copy The Developer name.But I ask my peeps and they told me that those T V Commercial have been coming on a lot.
I wrote this.Back in September 19, 2019 posted by: THREEFIFTHS on September 19, 2019 9:00am
I will say it again.
Gentrification and Colonialism are inseparable and continually mutually reinforce each other.Take a look at the City officials, developers, and local business boosters.They all remind me of the Five stages of colonialism which is 1.recon, 2. invasion, 3. occupation, and 4. assimilation of the area’s original peoples by colonizers. 5. Judas Goats.
The 5 Phases of Gentrification—When can it be stopped? and when is it too late?
Phase 1 – Pioneering New residents move in to abandoned or under-maintained buildings. Banks will not lend so renovation is limited to the resources of the Pioneers. No displacement of original residents, yet.
Part One
posted by:
THREEFIFTHS
on August 4, 20214:07pm
Phase 2 – Potential is Seen Real estate agents promote the area’s “potential.” Vacancy rates drop. Rents begin to rise. Banks begin to lend. Speculators buy distressed buildings.
Phase 3 – Safety and Media Hype Gentrifiers create historic preservation, business and neighborhood associations. Rents increase dramatically and displacement of the original residents fuels tensions. Police adopt “broken windows” tactics and selectively enforce loitering and similar laws. Media attention promotes the new safety and changes in the neighborhood.
Phase 4 – Peak The first wave of Pioneers gets priced out. Banks and investors create more high priced apartments and condos. Buildings bought for speculation in Phase 2 get put back on the market.
Phase 5 – Post Peak Vacancy rates increase as rents push above the limit. Speculators take the money they made in Phase 4 and look for new opportunities in neighboring communities. Landlords are absentee, including large banks and institutional investors. Property values stagnate or fall from their peaks.
So what you wrote is on spot.
posted by:
CityYankee
on August 4, 20214:31pm
Dear 3/5’s :what will you call it now that it is not only minorities but all the working class residents of NH being priced out of their homes and city?It can’t be colonialism any more because the colonials are now being pushed out.You need a new term to add to gentrification.
posted by:
THREEFIFTHS
on August 4, 20214:58pm
posted by: CityYankee on August 4, 2021 4:31pm
Dear 3/5’s :what will you call it now that it is not only minorities but all the working class residents of NH being priced out of their homes and city?It can’t be colonialism any more because the colonials are now being pushed out.You need a new term to add to gentrification.
Read what I wrote.Never said not only minorities.I said.assimilation of the area’s original peoples by colonizers.
posted by:
Heather C.
on August 4, 20217:15pm
ThreeFifths- this is why we needed you back in the comments section, because you saw the writing on the wall long before many others did, you have data links to give readers the facts and other communities situations and solutions, and we need as many voices as possible speaking truth to power. Divided we are weak, together we are strong. CityYankee- the sad truth is that colonization impacts poor whites as well as minorities, but as long as the rich and powerful can convince you that the minorities are the problem, they can divide and conquer and keep all of us down. These racist and classist tactics perpetuate a system of inequalities. Again, divided we are weak, united we are strong. If we fight the system together to lift up the least well off, we will all benefit together.
posted by:
CityYankee
on August 5, 20216:15am
Dear Heather—the real conflict is between classes but we are so divided and racial politics has been so successful for so many , that I fear we will never get to the realization that we are all on the same side.It’s as bad now as I have ever seen it .The self-segregation of minorities , I think,will do some good for them but it will not move us forward as a society. For that idea, my comments and questions are condemned. It appears that minorities of all kinds just want to do to others what was done to them—” an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth”.I hope it makes them happy but I don’t think it will and I don’t have to approve of it.
posted by:
Cinderella
on August 5, 20217:16am
Heather C, THREE FIFTHS, and City Yankee always make such cogent, intelligent and well-researched comments. And I do appreciate the links and the time you spend writing these comments. Thank you. PS Even though my screen name is “Cinderella” I am really not a “la-la land Cinderella.” It’s meant to be ironic. ;)
posted by:
THREEFIFTHS
on August 5, 202111:01am
posted by: CityYankee on August 5, 2021 6:15am Dear Heather—the real conflict is between classes but we are so divided and racial politics has been so successful for so many , that I fear we will never get to the realization that we are all on the same side.It’s as bad now as I have ever seen it .
There is not question that conflict is between classes. As far as racial politics .African American historian John Hope Franklin, Said America’s racial politics have deep roots that date back well before the nation itself. If you go back to that date look at what group benefitted from racial politics.Do not forget systemic racism taht is also the problem?
The self-segregation of minorities , I think,will do some good for them but it will not move us forward as a society.
What do you mean by The self-segregation of minorities?
It appears that minorities of all kinds just want to do to others what was done to them—” an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth”.I hope it makes them happy but I don’t think it will and I don’t have to approve of it.
Hate crimes against minorities are doubled in this country.Are you saying that minorities should just lay down and do nothing.
I hope it makes them happy but I don’t think it will and I don’t have to approve of it.
You are correct.You do not have to approve of it.
My bad.You every hear of Black Like Me. It was a 1964 American drama film based on the 1961 book Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin who was the journalist who disguised himself to pass as an African-American man for six weeks in 1959.you should look at this movie.You may learn somthing.
Black Like Me 1964
https://youtu.be/A2enico0VdU
posted by:
Heather C.
on August 5, 20212:58pm
THREEFIFTHS- I read the book back in my teen years, as well as many others that offered me a chance to better understand what it was like to see the world through someone else’s experiences and viewpoints who is living in the same country I live in, but doesn’t experience or see it the same way that I have. My mother and my aunt taught me to always consider what it was like to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes”to better understand why people think and/or act the way they do, and that it is usually a result of their experiences and their struggles in this world.
posted by:
CityYankee
on August 5, 20213:23pm
Yes, 3/5’s I have read and seen Black Like Me.
Self-segregation means what it says as part of my previous comment
posted by:
Smitty
on August 5, 20214:08pm
[She also hears frequently from renters who say the city’s largest property management companies — such as Mandy Management and Pike International — do not keep up with repairs and are difficult to get in touch with. And when a renter wants to move, she said, these growing companies own enough of the market that it’s difficult to find an apartment they don’t control.
“These management companies keep buying and buying all of these properties,” she said. “And they’re putting 2021 prices” on properties that feel decades old. “They need to make sure prices match what’s being offered.”]
This is my dilemma..Firstly I make too much so the low income housing people won’t accept me….BUT the apartments that are NOT low income have this requirement that I make 3 times the monthly rent so they disqualify me so I can’t get housing.They are charging $1400 per month for 1 bedrooms no utilities included…2-3 month security oh, and a $50-$75 application fee….Then the apartments will have old a** appliances and water-damaged floors OR the apartment was fixed up to look nice but its dead smack in the middle of a crime zone….How are you charging prices like that in a neighborhood like this????I expect the nice part of the neighborhood to be more expensive but….I step outside and see gangs of addicts digging in trash or begging for money, over grown weeds no property maintenance yet rent is going UP!? Like HOW IS THIS ALLOWED!? Where do people in the middle live???? Its killing me softly and I refuse to let these people drive me away from my hometown because they keep forcing us to be homeless….SOMETHING must be done!!!!!
posted by:
THREEFIFTHS
on August 5, 20215:06pm
posted by: CityYankee on August 5, 2021 3:23pm
Yes, 3/5’s I have read and seen Black Like Me.
Self-segregation means what it says as part of my previous comment.
IF you did read and seen Black Like Me.Then you should know what black people have to put up with every day.This is why a lot of black folks have an eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.As fa as Self-segregation.Some groups like to live like that. [n the Chicano civil rights movement during the 1960s, some rejected the idea that they would be able to equally flourish within the dominant white culture and campaigned for an independent state.Look at the Amish in North America or certain immigrant groups across this country, Who believing that their particular cultural practices are better preserved by remaining separate from mainstream society.
posted by:
CityYankee
on August 5, 20217:53pm
3/5’s—BLack Like Me is from 1961—- 60 years ago.
posted by:
THREEFIFTHS
on August 5, 202110:42pm
posted by: CityYankee on August 5, 2021 7:53pm
3/5’s—BLack Like Me is from 1961—- 60 years ago.
True.But like I said.IF you did read and seen Black Like Me.Then you should know what black people have to put up with every day.Also Dr. King said.
We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know that we will win. But I’ve come to believe we’re integrating into a burning house.
I’m afraid that America may be losing what moral vision she may have had .... And I’m afraid that even as we integrate, we are walking into a place that does not understand that this nation needs to be deeply concerned with the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Until we commit ourselves to ensuring that the underclass is given justice and opportunity, we will continue to perpetuate the anger and violence that tears at the soul of this nation.”
posted by:
Heather C.
on August 5, 202111:45pm
Smitty- exactly right, these landlords want three months rent, and now they are charging “market rate” rents in the tougher parts of town because the more market rate new buildings and rehabs go on the market, the more the older buildings a few blocks away can count them as what the market will bear as comparables in the area. It doesn’t matter that a few blocks up the hill live millionaires, and a few blocks down the hill people are struggling to get by day by day. And then they wonder why crime is up? The foreclosure crisis and the eviction crisis when the moratorium finally ends will create a tsunami of homelessness because the people will have nowhere that they can find an affordable place to rent in this country. The few places left that are somewhat reasonable, are being snapped up by the mega landlords and real estate investors to rent to folks who can work remotely from anywhere. CityYankee- the book may have been written in the 1960’s, but things haven’t changed all that much so as to make it not relevant to today’s struggle. In some ways, it has even gotten worse. People often stick together with people similar to themselves because they get sick and tired of explaining their experiences to other people and putting up with ignorance, bias, white fragility, white supremacy, intolerance and micro aggressions. You can hardly blame someone for not wanting to put up with that nonsense day after day for your whole life and just wanting to surround yourself with people that you don’t have to deal with those issues with and who understand what your experiences are.