Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens (left), Common Council candidate Hanah Ehrenreich (center) and councilor Amir Gethers (right) attended a candidate forum on housing. The forum, hosted Wednesday, June 4, by political action committee Tenant Bloc, focused on tenant-centered policies. Credit: Eddie Velazquez | Central Current

Syracuse mayoral candidate Sharon Owens, and Common Council candidates Amir Gethers and Hanah Ehrenreich fielded questions from residents and housing advocates at a Wednesday election forum focused on the political and economic futures of Syracuse tenants.

The town hall was hosted by Tenant Bloc, a nonprofit that seeks to harness the voting and economic powers of tenants across New York, ahead of the Democratic Primary in June. 

Tenant Bloc launched last month the “vote like a tenant” campaign, directing tenants, who make up 61% of Syracuse residents, to vote for candidates who support policies like “good cause” eviction, which advocates say could help prevent unjust evictions. 

The candidate forum, which is a part of that campaign, comes four months after the last time the Syracuse Common Council considered a vote on “good cause” eviction protections. The bill, added to the New York state budget in April 2024, allows municipalities to pass their own local version of the legislation. So far, 15 municipalities including Ithaca, Albany, and Rochester, have opted into the bill. 

Under “good cause,” tenants:

  • Could challenge evictions filed in court for reasons not stated in the lease agreement.
  • Could contest at eviction hearings rent increases above 10% of the yearly rent or 5% plus the rate of inflation, whichever is lower.
  • Would be allowed to renew their lease automatically if they are caught up on rent and have abided by the terms of their lease.

“Good cause” was a central part of the forum, and has been a significant part of public conversations about Syracuse housing since last summer — when the council first started considering the adoption of a local ordinance. 

The forum was meant to include mayoral primary candidates Common Council President Pro Tem Pat Hogan and Councilor Chol Majok, as well as at-large council candidates Councilor Rasheada Caldwell, and Hasahn Bloodworth. All four either declined the invitation or did not respond, according to a Tenant Bloc spokesperson.

“The no.1 issue in this election is housing affordability and safety, so we’re grateful to the candidates across the ballot who showed up to speak to Syracuse’s tenant majority,” said Genevieve Rand, the campaigns organizer for Tenant Bloc. “Voters know who did and didn’t show up for “Good Cause” in February, and now they know who did and didn’t show tonight.”

Owens, the city’s deputy mayor, said she supports “good cause.” Earlier in the day, Owens said, a tenant called her seeking help as they had just received a notice their rent would be going up more than double. 

“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Owens said.

The deputy mayor is competing in a primary with Hogan and Majok to appear on the ballot as a Democrat in November.

Ehrenreich — a first-time council candidate locked into the Democratic Primary that could yield one of two at-large seats with incumbents Gethers and Caldwell, as well as fellow newcomer Bloodworth — also said she supports “good cause.”

Gethers’ answer to the question was more complicated. He voted in favor of withdrawing “good cause” from the agenda in February. The council voted 5-4. 

Gethers said the council lacked “important information” needed to make a decision on the bill at that moment. He added that the council wanted to have conversations with other cities regarding the bill’s implementation. 

“While also trying to see how we can enforce what we already have in Syracuse… better before we enforce ‘good cause,’” Gethers said. “If it is returned back on the agenda, if everything plays out the way that it should, how we should go forth with it, and have the full support, I could support ‘good cause.’ But if not, we won’t bring it back on the agenda.”

Timeline of stories about ‘good cause’ in Syracuse

His response during the forum drew confused comments from some attendees who during the forum said they did not understand whether Gethers would vote yes or no on it.

Central Current asked Gethers to clarify his stance after the forum.

“I have to work on what I have here, not with what’s going on in other cities,” Gethers said. “So if it works for us, then I can vote yes. If it doesn’t, it will be a no.” 

Gethers added that he would like to see better enforcement of tools that help the city maintain habitable housing like the property code. 

“Could ‘good cause’ work for us? Possibly, yes. We have to have everything else,” Gethers said, noting that he wouldn’t rule out the bill being re-introduced by the council before the end of the year.

Candidates were also asked how they have centered tenants issues while in office and/or how they plan to do so going forward if elected.

Owens said she would pursue homeownership programs and reflected on her time working at Home HeadQuarters, an organization that promotes and pursues that goal.

“Where you lay your head should not determine the trajectory of your potential, but how you lay your head absolutely affects your ability to be the best person you can be when you wake up in the morning,” Owens said. “So it is critical that housing is safe, affordable, clean and healthy.”

Ehrenreich reflected on her time as an intern in Washington DC, where she rented an apartment and alongside her roommates faced a massive rent hike. She said that at the time she felt vulnerable and lacking tenant protections.

“I understand the vulnerability,” Ehrenreich said. She added that she also understands the importance of being a homeowner and the need for housing to be affordable. The roads to reliably reach those goals, Ehrenreich said, are widely not accessible to most.

“We live in systems that are designed for specific people, for specific profits,” Ehrenreich said. “And in order to make these systems better, we have to take them down brick by brick.”

Ehrenreich is the only landlord among the candidates present at the forum. She owns a two-family home where she rents out the second unit.

For Gethers, an area he has seen improvement in during his tenure on the council is the City’s Division of Code Enforcement. He said he would continue to ensure the department can enforce tenant protections and property habitability standards.

“We have been trying to take care and boost the effectiveness of getting rid of the bad landlords here in the city,” he said. “We have had many discussions and tried to have many improvements with our code enforcement, and tried to boost those numbers and tried to get things up to respond to tenants that actually have called in complaints.”

Gethers recently voted to cut around $600,000 in proposed funding for code enforcement from the city budget. Though the budget still reflects an increase of $1 million for the department, code officials warned the council their rollback could lead to staffing cuts.

Included in those cuts was a scaleback of the city’s third-party plan review process, which could allow Syracuse’s Central Permit Office to expedite permitting by contracting that process out to vetted firms. Owens and Gethers said they would want to bring the process back when they were asked about how they could spur housing production. 

“We cannot meet the housing needs we have just with the public sector,” Owens said. “It has to also be a public-private combination of that, but we need to do it right.”

Ehrenreich said she wants housing construction to be expedited and believes processes like permitting should be fast tracked.

“I am not for any efficiency that doesn’t provide safe and climate-resistant housing,” she said. “I am not for anything that keeps us from being safe in our new buildings, but I do want things to go faster.”

Candidates were also asked about how the city could improve landlord compliance with the Rental Registry Program, which requires landlords to register their one- and two-family homes with the city by passing a code enforcement inspection every three years. 

A recent report from City Auditor Alex Marion recently showed that compliance with the program is at 33% as of the start of the year. Additionally, only 25% of properties that should be on the registry actually are, Marion wrote.

Owens said she would fully fund code enforcement and continue to pursue city lawsuits against bad landlords.

“Our code enforcement people work hard,” she said. “They are quite frankly outnumbered.”

Ehrenreich said she would get creative with her solutions. 

“If we have property owners who are not paying their taxes… Why don’t we sell that debt to bill collectors?” she said.

Additionally, Ehrenreich said she would like to see a portal for residents to report the presence of lead in residents’ homes.

Gethers did not directly address the question, but noted he believes in the rental registry as a tool for compliance of conditions of habitability in city properties.

“All landlords that are here should definitely follow the rules that we have in the city for that,” Gethers said.

Read more of Central Current’s coverage

Eddie Velazquez is a Syracuse journalist covering economic justice in the region. He is focused on stories about organized labor, and New York's housing and childhood lead poisoning crises. You can follow...