East Lyme ― Tenants of a Niantic apartment complex facing rent increases of roughly 60% joined with local housing advocates Wednesday to tell the media they’re looking for the town and state to help them so they aren’t pushed out of their homes in a town where they say no other affordable options exist.

First Selectman Dan Cunningham, who was in the audience, stood up to tell the Windward Village tenants he was receptive to their message.

“This is an abomination,” he said. “I’m so disturbed over what is happening. It’s really evident that we've let down senior citizens in a large way.”

Windward Village Apartments, at 468 Main St., was purchased by Shelton-based Alpha Capital Funds real estate investment firm in June for $8.4 million. The company in a social media post predicted the complex would be worth $14 million by the time all the rent increases kick in and improvements to the property are completed.

Elderly and disabled people make up the majority of tenants in the complex, where Cunningham’s mother-in-law also lives.

“So, what can I do?” he said. “Well, I’ve been blessed with this position as first selectman, and one of the things we can do is we can form a Fair Rent Commission.”

State law empowers towns to form fair rent commissions that give local volunteers the ability to investigate complaints, hold hearings, and order landlords to reduce rent increases for specific reasons. Municipalities with more than 25,000 residents are required to have fair rent commissions, while it remains optional for East Lyme’s 18,788 residents.

Opponents of such commissions have argued the government should not be involved in dictating rent prices and that disputes should be decided through the court system. They have also said a one-size-fits-all approach can harm local landlords when the most egregious rent increases seem to be coming from larger firms.

Cunningham said he’s drafting an ordinance with Deputy First Selectman Ann Cicchiello that would create a fair rent commission. His plan calls for discussing it at an August Board of Selectmen meeting.

It would then have to go to a public hearing before it could be approved by the selectmen.

“My sense of it is that we have bipartisan support on the Board of Selectmen,” he said.

For tenant Judi Glickstein, the brunt of the responsibility to solve the problem of unreasonable rent hikes lies with state lawmakers.

Glickstein said she’s lived in town since 1966.

“And I always thought I would probably die here,” she said.

But if her rent goes up by $800 to $900 as have her neighbors’ whose leases have expired since the building was purchased, she’ll said she’d likely have to leave town ― and the state.

“I do blame the state senators and representatives for not having enough laws in place to protect the tenants here,” she said. “And I think that is why a company like the one that took over our building is here, and is doing us great harm and injustice.”

When asked to respond to the comments made Wednesday night, Reign Kinseley, the property manager for the complex, said Alpha Capital issued a statement last month.

“We would like to encourage our tenants to call us directly to go over any concerns,” she said.

Alpha Capital funder and CEO Tyler Smith in his July statement said the company values its tenants and strives to balance their needs with the operational costs required to maintain and enhance the buildings.

“We are exploring various ways to support our tenants during this transition and remain open to dialogue to address their concerns,” he said.

The tenants were joined Tuesday night by housing advocates including Beth Sabilia, director of the Center for Housing Equity and Opportunity Eastern CT and a former elected official in New London and Waterford; Cathy Zall, executive director of the Homeless Hospitality Center in New London; and Christopher Carlson, staff attorney with a Connecticut Legal Services.

State Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme, after the meeting called for more workforce housing options, which she described as rents those with moderate incomes can afford.

She said many of the Niantic tenants make too much to qualify for affordable housing in the AHEPA development in town – where a single person must make less than $32,100 to qualify – but do not make enough to afford such a steep rent increase.

She was hopeful tax credits could be used to incentivize the creation of more workforce housing units for older residents. She said focusing on building new elderly housing addresses concerns by many residents that younger families with children burden local budgets dominated by education costs.

“It’s an absolute win-win,” she said.

Nick Menapace, a member of the Planning Commission who’s running as a Democrat for Cheeseman’s seat, expressed support for the formation of a Fair Rent Commission and more state laws to protect tenants.

“I’m tired of hearing, ‘Oh, what about the good landlords?” he said. “This isn’t going to negatively affect good landlords because they’re not going to double people’s rent for no reason.”

While doubtful the state legislature in the coming year will have the appetite to enact rent caps, he said there’s more lawmakers can do.

“I’d like to see that we’re trying to restrict some of these companies from coming and buying up these places as a system of jacking up everybody’s rent,” he said. “Ideally I’d like to do more than that, but that’s a baby step in the right direction.”

e.regan@theday.com