Minority Republicans in the New York State legislature are asserting their opposition to proposed tenant protections as lawmakers continue to negotiate a state budget in overtime.
State Senate Minority Leader Rob Orttgathered with members of both chambers this week to oppose what’s referred to as Good Cause Eviction.
“Good Cause is nothing more than a direct attack on private property rights in this state. And that is the case because some of my colleagues simply do not believe in private property rights,” said Ortt.
The Republicans’ press conference at the state capitol comes as they say Good Cause eviction is being included in a housing package. The availability and affordability of a place to live in New York has been a top priority of lawmakers and Governor Kathy Hochul, who could not come to full agreement on a housing plan last year.
Good Cause requires landlords to provide grounds for a tenants’ eviction, and provides protections against steep rent hikes. Advocates say there is no greater time for the legislation than now, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when emergency eviction protections expired. But even before the pandemic, the legislation says in 2019, 92,000 people in New York were homeless and 100 families were evicted every day.
Daniel Attonna rallied alongside lawmakers during a recent press conference on regulating short-term rentals. He says Good Cause Eviction is one key piece of a housing package puzzle.
“At For the Many, we believe in Good Cause Eviction tenant protections and green social housing. But we also believe that there is no single fix for our complex housing crisis,” said Attonna.
The Good Cause Eviction law does not apply to landlords with less than four units.
Still, Republicans dismiss the legislation as a New York City issue. Again, Ortt.
“Good Cause is a New York City creation, there is no one outside of that that would have ever come up, or this would never gain any real traction,” said Ortt.
“Our residents do sometimes need additional regulations to be able to help support them and especially for so that they're not taken advantage of.”
Steve Noble is the Democratic mayor of Kingston. The Ulster County city has instituted its own short-term rental regulations and recently had its own rent control regulations under the state’s Emergency Tenant Protections Act upheld in appellate court.
Noble says he wants statewide tenant protections and incentivizes communities to build all kinds of housing types.
“And so, we've been a big supporter of Good Cause Eviction, we think that it should be really clear, on way on what are the reasons that people can be evicted? And what are the reasons that they shouldn't be evicted?” said Noble.
The Good Cause Eviction law says annual rate hikes of greater than 3 percent or one-and-a-half times the annual percentage change in Consumer Price Index are presumed to be unreasonable.
But not all Democrats are completely on board with Good Cause. Democratic Assemblymember Pat Fahy of Albany says Good Cause Eviction has become a “pretty loaded term.”
“I think we have to address tenant protections and tenant needs, especially among the low income, one, with more housing vouchers, just to make it more affordable for those low income. We need some protections in terms of counsel or right to counsel and housing court, things of that nature. We need to look at how to minimize rent increases because we have seen gouging in certain high-rent areas. So, there are some, but I think there are other parts of good cause – tying something to the CPI, the consumer price index – is just going to…it can have a chilling effect on growing housing,” said Fahy.
Republican Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh of Ballston in Saratoga County, says she likes the idea of compromise, but does not believe Good Cause is a good idea.
“I generally liked the idea of compromise. But when you take something that started at 3 percent, and you say, ‘Well, we're compromising now. Now it's going to be 10 percent or 5 percent, plus CPI, or whatever the proposal is right now, as near as we can figure it out, as it's being reported. I just I don't support it because I think fundamentally it's just a bad idea,” said Walsh.
In 2021, the City of Albany became the first in the state to implement its own Good Cause Eviction law before it was struck down. An appellate court sided with landlords in a 2023 decision, saying it conflicted with state law.
