Lamont Backs CT Eviction Reform Bill to End No-Fault Evictions

Gov. Ned Lamont broke his long silence on eviction reform Thursday, publicly backing a bill that would require landlords to give a reason before removing a tenant from their home. It’s a move that tenant advocates have pushed for across multiple legislative sessions, and one that carries real stakes for renters from Bridgeport to Hartford to the outer suburbs.

“Your apartment is your home. Your apartment is dignity,” Lamont said at a press conference Thursday alongside members of the Connecticut Tenants Union, housing advocates, General Assembly members, and faith leaders. “This bill is about a little bit of respect for folks who are playing by the rules.”

The bill in question is Senate Bill 257. It would largely end no-fault evictions, the kind that happen at the end of a lease when a landlord wants a tenant out without claiming they did anything wrong. If passed, the law would apply only to buildings with five or more units.

What the bill actually does

No-fault evictions are more common than many renters realize. A lease ends, the landlord decides not to renew, and the tenant has no legal recourse. Tenant advocates say large property owners use this tool to clear buildings before raising rents, sometimes displacing dozens of families in a single sweep.

Lamont acknowledged that pattern directly. “I think the market has gotten really tight. I think in some cases, some of the landlords got a little arrogant,” he said. “People are playing by the rules, all the rules in the lease, and you can’t treat them different.”

For renters in Connecticut’s most expensive markets, that instability isn’t abstract. Lose your apartment in Stamford or New Haven with 60 days notice, and you’re competing for units in one of the tightest rental markets in the Northeast. School enrollments, commutes, childcare arrangements: all of it unravels fast.

The opposition isn’t going quietly

Landlord groups are pushing back hard. Jessica Doll, executive director of the Connecticut Apartment Association, said in a statement that ending no-fault evictions strips property owners of a critical tool for protecting their communities. Her argument: when a tenant smokes in the hallways, plays music at 2 a.m., or creates an unsafe situation that doesn’t rise to an easily documentable lease violation, the lease end date is often the only practical exit.

“This idea has failed in each of the past two years, it has bipartisan opposition, and nothing has changed since then to make this a workable bill,” Doll said.

She’s not wrong that the bill has stalled before. No-cause eviction reform has passed in states like New Jersey and Oregon, but Connecticut’s version has run into resistance in the General Assembly on multiple occasions. Republicans argue it violates landlords’ property rights and could push small landlords out of the rental market entirely, shrinking the supply of available units at the worst possible time.

That’s a real concern in Connecticut’s smaller cities and towns, where individual landlords operating two- and three-family homes make up a significant share of the rental stock. The five-unit threshold in Senate Bill 257 is designed to exempt those smaller operators, but critics say the line is arbitrary.

The politics behind the timing

Lamont’s decision to step out front on this issue isn’t purely policy-driven. He’s running for a third term and faces a primary challenge from Rep. Josh Elliott, a Democrat from Hamden who has criticized the governor’s housing record. Backing Senate Bill 257 now puts Lamont in direct alignment with tenant advocates and progressive voters who have been skeptical of his approach to housing affordability.

The Connecticut Tenants Union has been one of the most vocal organizing forces behind eviction reform, and their presence at Thursday’s press conference signals they’re treating this as a genuine win rather than political theater.

CT Mirror first reported the full details of Thursday’s press conference and Lamont’s remarks, including the governor’s comments on market conditions.

What to watch

Senate Bill 257 still has to move through the General Assembly, where it has faced rough going in prior sessions. Lamont’s public support changes the political math somewhat, but the bipartisan opposition Doll references is real. Several moderate Democrats in swing districts have been reluctant to hand landlord groups a reason to back their Republican opponents in November.

The Connecticut General Assembly’s session runs through early June. If the bill doesn’t clear both chambers before then, it dies and the fight starts over in 2027. Renters waiting on this one shouldn’t make any plans just yet.