One union co-leader, Cynthia Vega-Vieyra: Our union is the real deal. The other union’s leader, Sebastian Gomez (second from left): No, our union is the real deal. More than two months after competing tenants unions at the same Quinnipiac Meadows apartment complex petitioned the city for fo rmal recognition, the Fair Rent Commission is still determining whether one — or both — represents the majority of tenants. As the city pushes to verify the signatures on each group’s membership list, in separate interviews, representatives from both unions relayed their continued efforts to improve residents’ living conditions. The protracted recognition process marks yet another episode in a months-long feud between the two groups, both of which claim to represent tenants of Sunset Ridge, a 312-unit, low-income apartment complex owned by an affiliate of the Capital Realty Group. “The Fair Rent Commission has been diligently reviewing the two tenant union applications and attempting to verify the membership lists that were submitted by the two tenants’ union groups of Sunset Ridge Apartments,” Fair Rent Commission (FRC) Executive Director Wildaliz Bermúdez told the Independent on Thursday. “When the review is completed, the FRC will contact each group to inform them of the results.” She said one tenants union — led by a resident named Sebastian Gomez — submitted a membership list with signatures from 202 tenants. She said another union — represented by residents named Tawana Galberth and Cynthia Vega-Vieyra — turned in a list with 168 signatures. “While there is no legal restriction on more than one tenants’ union forming at a given complex,” Bermúdez said, “the FRC will fully investigate any and all proposed tenants’ union applications to ensure such applications fully comply with the FRC’s requirements for recognition.” She added that her office sent letters asking purported members of both unions to verify their affiliations if they had not responded to earlier phone calls. The competing unions are seeking recognition under a local law passed in 2022, and amended in 2024, that made New Haven the first municipality in Connecticut to create a legal pathway for the formal recognition of tenants unions. Once certified, tenants unions can participate in FRC investigations and hearings. A tenants union needs to be created at a building with at least five apartments and “by agreement of a majority of the tenants listed as lessees within the housing accommodation” in order to be recognized by the city, according to the amended law. The tenants union represented by Galberth and Vega-Vieyra is backed by the Connecticut Tenants Union (CTTU). That group argues the opposing union — led by Gomez — is affiliated with management, noting that at least one member is on Capital Realty’s maintenance staff. CTTU Vice President Luke Melonakos also pointed out that Gomez joined a protest outside of Capital Realty’s office in New York, disrupting a joint effort by tenants across the country to demand a meeting with their landlord. Gomez, meanwhile, has repeatedly rejected the allegation that he is affiliated with Sunset Ridge’s management. According to CTTU President Hannah Srajer, Sunset Ridge’s allegedly management-backed union reflects a broader pattern of Capital Realty suppressing organizers by forming tenants groups at multiple properties in its portfolio. CTTU members are now urging the city to amend its tenants union law and require unions to be independent of their landlords, drawing on a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulation for tenant groups at federally subsidized properties. Melonakos said CTTU scheduled a meeting with Mayor Justin Elicker on Thursday to discuss the change, but Elicker canceled. According to Melonakos, the mayor said Corporation Counsel advised him not to take a meeting with CTTU until the FRC completes its investigation of the two Sunset Ridge unions. In a separate interview, Elicker confirmed that he canceled the meeting after consulting with corp counsel. “We’ve worked very closely with the Connecticut Tenants Union on a lot of different initiatives,” he said, but he wanted to make sure not to meet with either side while the FRC’s investigation into these two unions is ongoing. Gomez’s union, which is the only union recognized by the complex’s property manager, has accused CTTU of stirring unnecessary conflict and extorting tenants with voluntary union fees. At a City Hall counter-protest in November, members of that union described their living conditions as calm and clean, contrasting with complaints of mold, mice, and untreated water leaks raised by other residents. As the two groups campaign for formal recognition, across the country, tenants unions are continuing to spring up at Capital Realty-owned properties. Residents of nine complexes across six states — including at Sunset Ridge and Park Ridge in New Haven — have spoken passionately about their shared experiences with unhealthy living conditions, sudden rent hikes, and retaliation from management. Lost in the debate about which group is real, said Melonakos, is that “nearly 200 households of New Haven residents feel that their housing conditions and the way that they’re being treatment by their management company is unacceptable.” Rather than address those problems, Capital Realty has employed a long-time tactic of “counter-organizing” to “squash a movement of people making demands.” Beware The “Management Scam”? Gerene Freeman, the vice president of the Park Ridge Tenants Union, said Capital Realty created a management-backed tenant group at her West Hills complex, too. In an interview with the Independent on Thursday, Freeman recounted one of the group’s meetings. “There was no discussion of repairs or tenant concerns,” she said. “Instead, all they did was schmooze. They offered tenants coffee and pastries and had a raffle.” To the best of Freeman’s knowledge, the committee only has two members who live in the building. She suspects that one leader has financial ties to Capital Realty. “The thing that I find curious is that [management] say[s] we don’t need a union, but they never address the issues or repairs that need to be done in the building,” said Freeman. “Since we’ve started the union, a lot of things have been accomplished,” while the committee has done “nothing.” Among the union’s achievements is a speedier process for repairs, as well as a new boiler, said Freeman. A spokesperson from Park Ridge Apartments did not respond to requests for comment. In a separate interview, Srajer, CTTU’s president, argued that Capital Realty has been creating toothless tenant groups at properties in New Haven, Denver, Kansas City, and Detroit. Their goal, she argued, is to “cause confusion” and distract from the real challenges facing residents, including “mold,” “mice,” “high rent hikes,” and “disrespect.” Instead of addressing those issues, the opposing union “has not made any significant improvements at all, despite having the backing of management,” said Srajer. “There are not two unions,” she continued. “There is a management scam and a union formed by the people.” She added that residents — not the city — ultimately have the final say in determining which union is legitimate. A spokesperson from Capital Realty did not respond to requests for comment. In December, the Denver Post reported that Petya Vassilev, Capital Realty’s general counsel, denied the company’s involvement in counter-protests and rival unions. In an interview with the Independent this week, Gomez said his union — led by an unelected, seven-person board — has been actively inspecting apartments and requesting improvements from management as needed. Just last week, he said, they hosted a meeting of 17 people. Contrary to Srajer’s account, Gomez said his union has convinced management to install more lighting in the back of the building and replace unattractive fixtures with higher-quality materials. Management has also agreed to create locked mailboxes for packages to reduce theft. “I’m not really waiting on an answer from the city,” said Gomez. “Any problem, any complaint, or anything, [tenants] call me.” He said that tenants have rarely complained to him about rodents and mold. In the one instance of an infestation, Gomez notified management, who scheduled an exterminator for the next day. “I Still Hear Bats In The Wall” Speaking about the city’s vetting process, Gomez criticized the FRC’s actions as unfair and imbalanced. He said the city sent a letter on Jan. 9 asking tenants to submit written verification of their intention to join Gomez’s union within 15 days, but that same request was not made of tenants who signed onto the CTTU-backed union. “That makes no sense,” said Gomez. And the 15-day deadline is “a problem for our tenants who work every day, you know?” Melonakos said a similar letter would be sent for the CTTU-backed union. (Bermúdez of the FRC said letters for both unions had already been sent.) He also shared his own concerns with the process, arguing that Gomez’s petition allegedly contains so many forged signatures that it should be disqualified. “We’ve had several people contact the city say, ‘I did not sign that list,’ ‘No one by that name lives in my unit,’ [or] ‘They forged my signatures,'” said Melonakos. When asked about forgeries and fake names, Gomez denied any wrongdoing. He did acknowledge that an initial version of his petition contained some incorrect names, but he said he re-collected signatures and submitted a new, corrected version. One point of agreement between Melonakos and Gomez is that the FRC’s vetting process has been confusing. For example, the agency’s letters to residents refer to Gomez’s union as Sunset Ridge Tenants Union #1 and CTTU’s as Sunset Ridge Tenants Union #2, said Melonakos. Likewise, Gomez described accounts of residents receiving puzzling calls from members of the FRC staff. “There’s a lot of immigrants that live in the complex,” said Gomez. If someone calls and asks if they are part of a union without introducing themselves, “people get afraid.” On the question of December’s counter-protest in New York, Melonakos said Gomez was instructed by Capital Realty to disrupt CTTU’s press conference, claiming a police officer told CTTU members that Gomez’s union was “invited” by management. Gomez acknowledged attending the counter-protest but denied that management asked him to join. After finding out about CTTU’s press conference, Gomez said he gathered a group of 70 people, all of whom “wanted to make our voices heard.” When asked whether they were able to meet with Mosche Eichler, a principal at Capital Realty, Gomez said, “I’ve never heard of the guy.” He added that he’s “not really worried about who the owner is” and criticized CTTU for being “too activist.” “I’m not interested in this activist stuff. I’m just worried about what happening inside of Sunset Ridge,” said Gomez. Vega-Vieyra — a long-time resident of Sunset Ridge and leader of the CTTU-backed union — said that, amid the conflict, she is still dealing with a mouse infestation, black mold, and untreated water leaks. “I still hear bats in the wall,” said Vega-Vieyra. She recounted laying in bed and listening to bats flap their wings. Despite filing multiple maintenance requests, she had to patch the openings herself, which required borrowing a friend’s cat to sniff out the tiny holes in her wall. She also suspects that her apartment is filled with black mold. When the Livable City Initiative (LCI) conducted an investigation of her apartment last year, she said they uncovered the mold. Maintenance workers at Sunset Ridge “patched [the leaky window] with white stuff, but nothing helped,” said Vega-Vieyra. She does not think the mold has been fully remediated. On top of regular maintenance problems, Vega-Vieyra said she is facing a monthly rent hike of $60 on top of her current rate of $1,245. With the help of Amy Eppler-Epstein, a lawyer at the New Haven Legal Assistance Association, she hopes to convince the Fair Rent Commission to block the increase. See below for copies of the letters sent by the FRC to the two tenants unions’ members. 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