Lead paint peeling off the foundation of a home in Syracuse. Credit: Mike Greenlar | The Central Current

Around one in five tenants in Syracuse have faced attempted evictions in the past year — the highest number across all major upstate cities in New York, according to a new report on displacement across the state.

The city is also home to the fewest tenants with owed rent in the state, according to the report compiled by the Community Service Society of New York. Only about 6% of renters reported being behind on their rent, CSSNY found.

The combination of a low number of tenants with rental arrears and the highest number of tenants who landlords have attempted to evict in the past year is a sign that landlords use eviction and the threat of eviction as a tool to punish and control tenants, statewide and local housing advocates said.

CSSNY’s report comes as 95% of tenants who have had an eviction filed against them so far this year in city court for matters other than non-payment have been evicted, according to state court data. 

Evictions, advocates say, amount to a damning stain on the records of tenants looking for housing in tight rental markets like Syracuse. They can lead to landlords refusing to rent to tenants at a time when there aren’t many affordable and safe homes, advocates say.

Oksana Mironova, a housing policy analyst at CSSNY, said landlords tend to conduct checks on prospective tenants’ credit histories, which can show their eviction history.

“Evictions just follow a person around for very, very extended periods of time,” said Mironova who co-authored the report released in March.

The report is based on a survey of 4,789 renters from all over New York conducted by CSSNY, and was compiled by housing advocates to paint a picture of eviction trends in the state for the past year. 

Advocates found through the survey that evictions are more likely to occur outside New York City, which they note shows that policies meant to help tenants in the city are helping renters remain in their home.

In their report, advocates also wrote that Latino and Black tenants are more likely to face an eviction based on the statewide survey’s responses. 

The report also lists a slew of recommendations state and local officials upstate could implement to help tenants stave off displacement, including opting into the statewide “good cause eviction” protections at the local level, providing tenants being evicted with legal representation in court, and instituting rent control policies to keep housing affordable.

“There are things that don’t cost money for the city,” Mironova said. “Renter protections are not something that weigh on the budget.”

The report’s findings

The CSSNY survey asked the following questions of tenants:

  • Has their landlord tried to force them out within the past year?
  • Do they owe back rent? 
  • Have they ever been evicted or moved out of fear of being evicted?

In Syracuse, 23% of respondents surveyed reported landlords have attempted to evict them in the past year. Overall, 20% of renters either have an eviction on their record or said that they have left their homes for fear of eviction.

These displacements and attempts at evictions make up part of the 2,951 evictions filed in a Syracuse City Court in 2024 — a judge sided with landlords in about 64% of those cases. A vast majority of these evictions are brought to court for non-payment. About 76% of the cases were filed because tenants owed rent. 

But the number of tenants who reported owing rent, according to the study, is 6%. 

Mironova said this could mean that landlords are weaponizing evictions to control tenants’ behavior, particularly as Syracuse’s rental market continues to tighten. A tight rental market, she said, is one where there is a high demand for housing in a city with limited supply, leading to increased competition for available units and potentially higher rent. 

Rent in Syracuse seems to fit that description, according to an analysis of rent prices from year to year performed by real estate website Zumper. The company’s analysis shows that the cost of one-bedroom apartments in Syracuse increased by around 17.% from last year, making the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment to around $1,200.

Suitable housing also seems to be not up to par. The Syracuse Housing Study, commissioned by the city in 2023, shows that about a third of the homes in the city show signs of chronic disinvestment. 

A photograph of a dilapidated home with broken windows, a shopping cart outside, and an American flag hanging near the porch.
An apartment on Shonnard Street pictured. Credit: Michael Greenlar | Central Current

“It seems like a lot of landlords are using eviction to basically either kick people out because they are organizing or complaining to the city about issues with housing conditions,” Mironova said. “There seems to be a culture of creating instability for tenants and making their lives more difficult.”

Espinosa, a lawyer who represents tenants in Syracuse housing court, said this is a phenomenon she has encountered before. She said oftentimes landlords won’t even seek the money tenants owe.

“In a good portion of the non-payment cases I have observed, the landlord is willing to waive the arrears just to be able to evict the tenants,” Espinosa said. “I cannot tell you how many times the landlords say they don’t care about the money. They just want tenants out.”

The other types of evictions, known as holdover proceedings, tend to occur when a tenant no longer has the legal right to live in a property. These legal motions can be filed when tenants are no longer covered by a lease due to expiration or violation. There have been around 500 of these types of evictions in each of the past two years. 

Espinosa said these types of filings are on the rise in Syracuse and are easier for landlords to execute against tenants without a lease. Property owners do not have to provide a reason to evict those tenants.

“A lot of landlords are trying to evict tenants using a holdover because they can,” Espinosa said. 

About 95% of holdover proceedings so far this year have been won by landlords, according to state court data.

An eviction can impact a tenant’s ability to find housing, Mironova said. Landlords typically conduct credit checks or use web services to track a tenant’s rental history.

“A landlord in those situations has their pick of people who are trying to get into an apartment,” she said. “So that pushes people into more precarious situations and into the gray market where you’re maybe renting an apartment without a lease or month to month. You basically get locked out of the formal market as a result.

Mironova said evictions further destabilize the lives of families who are often already in a precarious position. Displacement affects tenants’ ability to hold a job that will pay enough to cover the costs of securing new housing.

“That is the perpetuation of poverty because of evictions,” she said. “That impacts people’s health.”

At the state level, these displacements affect Black and Latino tenants more than any other ethnic group, advocates wrote in the report.  About 31% of Latino respondents across the state had either been evicted or moved out of a fear of being evicted in the past, compared to 12 percent of non-Latino New Yorkers.

14% percent of Black households in the survey experienced an eviction attempt within the past year, compared to 9% of white households.

“In particular, the history of urban renewal in a city like Syracuse, and the history and continuation of redlining practices have shaped the housing market in a way where Black tenants are pushed into more precarious situations,” Mironova said. 

Solutions 

CSSNY’s report highlighted giving tenants the right to legal counsel during eviction proceedings, the implementation of “good cause eviction” laws, and instituting rent control measures, as actions cities like Syracuse can take to stop evictions. 

In the report, Mironova and other CSSNY advocates wrote that these measures have been successful at curbing eviction filings in New York City, where all three policies have been implemented.

From 2014 to 2017, the report states, evictions declined by 28%. This period signifies increased public spending on tenant legal assistance. Eventually, the city implemented a right to counsel program for tenants in eviction court in 2017. The New York City Bar Association released a report in 2024 indicating that since the policy’s implementation, 83% of the represented tenants are able to remain in their homes.

“It’s crucial for tenants to have representation,” said Sylvia Espinosa, a staff attorney at the Volunteer Lawyers Project of Central New York. “They need to be informed of their rights, and currently, all our agencies in the city are at capacity, and there’s still people that go unrepresented. It’s so important for tenants to have access to someone that can advocate on their behalf.”

Espinosa also said “good cause” eviction projections could help local governments address the housing crisis.

The bill would allow tenants to challenge evictions filed in court for reasons not stated in the lease agreement, as well as contest rent increases above 10% of the yearly rent or 5% plus the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. Under “good cause,” renters would also be allowed to renew their lease automatically if they are caught up on rent and have abided by the terms of their lease.

Members of the Syracuse Common Council have been mulling a vote on “good cause” since last August, hosting public meetings to hear concerns from city landlords and lawyers who represent tenants in housing court. Councilors have not brought up the item in a public meeting since early February.

“‘Good cause’ is just a tiny first step that we need to take as a city in order to protect our tenants and reduce the homelessness numbers,” Espinosa said. “Because if we don’t start by just a small step, then we cannot continue to build on that.”

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...