Housing Committee
JOINT FAVORABLE REPORT
Bill No.: HB-6529
AN ACT CONCERNING HOUSING AUTHORITIES AND ESTABLISHING AN
Title: OFFICE OF THE HOUSING ADVOCATE.
Vote Date: 3/11/2021
Vote Action: Joint Favorable Substitute
PH Date: 3/4/2021
File No.:
Disclaimer: The following JOINT FAVORABLE Report is prepared for the benefit of the
members of the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and
explanation and does not represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber
thereof for any purpose.
SPONSORS OF BILL:
None
REASONS FOR BILL:
This bill was created to address several oversight issues regarding the Windsor Housing
Authority. To avoid similar issues statewide, this bill requires basic training for housing
authority commissioners and employees.
RESPONSE FROM ADMINISTRATION/AGENCY:
None provided
NATURE AND SOURCES OF SUPPORT:
President of Conn-NAHRO and the Executive Director of the Manchester Housing Authority s
Joseph DAscoli- Supports this bill because it would provide education and training
opportunities to public housing professionals which would produce positive housing outcomes
for all parties to a public housing lease agreement.
Rep. Jane Garibay- Supports this bill because many of her constituents face discrimination,
hostility and lack of service from the Windsor Housing Authority and establishing an Office of
the Housing Advocate would help stop these issues and that the bill would better inform
residents of there rights.
The following are residents of housing units that are overseen by the Windsor Housing
Authority. They claim that the housing authority has repeatedly ignored complaints, requests
for services and discriminated against the tenants. They support this bill because they
believe that a Office of the Housing Advocate would help stop many of these issues:
Andrew McAllister
Susan Miller
Donna Grossman
NATURE AND SOURCES OF OPPOSITION:
Landlord Paul Januszewski- Opposes this bill in his public testimony because much of what
the bill intends to do already exists through advocacy organizations and for-profit
organizations.
Interim Policy Advocate for American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut Kelly McConney
Moore- Opposes this bill in the ACLU's public testimony because of the new background
checks on employees of housing authority's. The organization believes that these new
background checks are unnecessary and discriminatory. They state that the bill does not
provide guidance on what to do with this information, and because of that, many employees
with criminal records will be rejected even if the offenses happened years ago.
Reported by: Eddie Aledia Date: 3/22/21
Page 2 of 2 HB-6529


Statutes affected:
Raised Bill: 8-41, 8-68f, 8-68d
HSG Joint Favorable Substitute: 8-41, 8-68f, 8-68d
File No. 171: 8-41, 8-68f, 8-68d
File No. 626: 8-41, 8-68f, 8-68d