Syracuse Tenants Union hold rally for "good cause" tenant protections on Aug. 12. The Syracuse Common Council has been considering the protections for months. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central Current

It will likely take months for the Syracuse Common Council to vote on “good cause” eviction legislation that could protect tenants in Syracuse from unjust evictions and rent hikes. 

Councilor Corey Williams, who helped introduce the legislation, said the city will be hosting a council district by council district tour to talk about “good cause” but won’t plan that for at least a month. 

“We went into this process recognizing that we might not have a vote immediately,” Williams told Central Current after the meeting. “We wanted to hold the legislation and make sure that we could have a robust community-wide dialogue.”

The council’s delay came as pressure from housing advocates to opt into the eviction defense legislation continues to mount. A coalition of tenants, housing organizers, elected officials, and labor leaders rallied outside city hall in support of the policy ahead of Monday’s council meeting.

“Good cause” is largely seen by housing advocates as a measure that could help curtail the rising number of evictions in city court, as well as allow tenants to challenge unfair rent hikes. The bill was included in the state budget negotiated in April after a yearslong push from housing advocates, and allows municipalities to opt into the bill and amend certain tenets of the legislation.

Williams and fellow Democrats Jimmy Monto, Patrona Jones-Rowser, and Rita Paniagua brought a resolution to opt into “good cause” forward at the meeting Monday. Monto said the council would table the item to plan how to gather community feedback on the prospective local law. 

The council plans to host community forums in all five council districts and a public hearing. But planning will not start until the public school year starts Sept. 4. 

As Syracuse’s elected officials go mum on ‘good cause’ opt-in, advocates assemble coalition

Williams said so far he has only heard from tenants who support the bill, but has not yet fielded questions from property owners in his district.

“We want to hear from all community members and what their thoughts are and how they feel about the bill,” he noted.

For advocates trying to push the bill across the finish line, “good cause” could help tenants remain in their home in a city where more than five eviction warrants are issued every day. About two in three eviction filings end with an eviction warrant being issued, one of the highest rates among upstate cities. 

Under the bill, renters can challenge in court whether landlords have a fair cause to evict them. Valid grounds for an eviction would include nonpayment of rent, severe damage to the property, illicit activity, and breaches of the lease agreement.

  • Syracuse Tenants Union hold rally at City Hall on 8/12/24. Photo by Mike Greenlar Central Current
  • Syracuse Tenants Union hold rally at City Hall on 8/12/24. Photo by Mike Greenlar Central Current
  • Syracuse Tenants Union hold rally at City Hall on 8/12/24. Photo by Mike Greenlar Central Current
  • Palmer Harvey, founder and organizer of the Syracuse Tenants Union speaks at Housing rally on 8/12/24 at City Hall. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central Current
  • Syracuse Tenants Union hold rally at City Hall on 8/12/24. Photo by Mike Greenlar Central Current
  • Jocelyn Richards of the Syracuse Tenants Union speaks at a rally at City Hall 8/12/24. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central Current
  • Syracuse Tenants Union hold rally at City Hall on 8/12/24. Photo by Mike Greenlar Central Current
  • Tenant Mauresha Donerlson speaks at a housing rally on 8/12/24 at City Hall. Credit: Mike Greenlar | Central Current
  • Tenant Denise Riley speaks at Housing Rally at City Hall 8/12/24.

“We should not have to argue for good cause protections,” Onondaga County Legislator Maurice Brown said at the rally. 

Brown, a Democrat, represents the 15th District which includes parts of Syracuse. 

“We are saying that if a landlord does not have a good cause to evict me, they should not have the right to do that,” Brown said. “It is a simple ask.” 

“Good cause” is ultimately about housing stability, Brown said. Living in a stable home, he noted, is linked to renters’ ability to secure basic services like healthcare or public goods like education.

“Passing “good cause” is a step towards protecting those rights,” Brown said.

It could also help curb some of the sharpest increases in rent in the country from year to year, other advocates said. A recent study found that rents for one-bedroom apartments in Syracuse have increased about 22% in just one year. If “good cause” is enacted, renters at eviction hearings would be able to contest rent increases above 10% of the yearly rent or the inflation index, whichever is lower.

Mark Spadafore, the president of the Greater Syracuse Labor Council and a supporter of “good cause,” said that “good cause” could help preserve workers’ wages by allowing them to keep rent increases within reason.

“What’s the use of getting raises in our contracts, if all of that is going into a landlord’s pocket?,” Spadafore said. “What’s happening now is that the raises are getting eaten up by… that 22% increase in rent. It’s having an effect all the way across this community.”

Advocates also called for the council to amend a provision in the bill that exempts renters at housing operated by landlords who own 10 units or fewer in the state from qualifying for “good cause” protections. This exemption also applies to owner-occupied buildings with 10 or fewer units and is known among housing advocates as the “small landlord exemption.”

Syracuse Common Council to begin deliberations on ‘good cause’ tenant protections

City Auditor Alex Marion said setting the portfolio size to one as part of this exemption can prevent landlords from playing a shell game with properties. He said the “good cause” without an amendment to the exemption would allow landlords to easily transfer properties under different Limited Liability Corporations, all of which count as different entities under the bill.

“We cannot let sophisticated, shady landlords get around the law,” said City Auditor Alex Marion. 

For some of the bill’s detractors, the council needs to further study “good cause.” Council President Pro Tempore Pat Hogan, who represents the council’s second district, said he would like to get a full picture of how the bill would work in other cities that have already approved the bill like Ithaca or Albany.

“I think that’s better than if we decided to rush right into it,” he said. “I still have a lot of questions about how it is actually going to work.”

Hogan said he has received calls from landlords in his district who are concerned the bill would kill the incentive to rent out their properties. He says they see it as the government regulating their business.

“I am against the whole thing,” he said.

Jocelyn Richards, a member of the Syracuse Tenants Union, urged the council to consider the upside of the bill above the profit motive concerns expressed by property owners.

“We have people, human beings, who are dealing with life threatening conditions due to eviction,” Richards said at the rally. “This law could help that, but you don’t want to consider it, because it’ll be too difficult for landlords trying to make money. This is the system we’re up against.”

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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...