HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A judge has ruled that the city of Hartford must pay more than $6 million to nearly 1,700 families for violating a decades-old agreement requiring it to provide financial assistance to tenants displaced by fires or forced out by unlivable conditions.
Mayor Luke Bronin tells the Hartford Courant the decision puts additional pressure on a city already struggling financially, and he plans to appeal.
Under a 1984 agreement with Greater Hartford Legal Aid, the city must tell displaced residents that assistance is available.
Legal Aid brought the case to court in 2013, saying from January 2010 to August 2013, the city ordered about 850 families and individuals to vacate homes, but fewer than 100 received assistance. Attorney Cecil Thomas says that has since ballooned to 1,690 families.
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