Syracuse lawmakers are expected to vote Monday on the controversial Good Cause Eviction law, which would prevent landlords from imposing unwarranted rent hikes, and would ban evictions unless the landlord had good cause.
Lawmakers decided against voting on the legislation last year, but with a new make up to the Council, members are ready to approve it.
"We have made this level of Good Cause legislation apply to pretty much everybody who rents in the city, and that allows for tenants to know universally that they are covered under this legislation," said Common Councilor Hanah Ehrenreich. "And that allows them to have the stability that if they are following their lease, and doing as the agreement states, that they don't get a shock increase into their rent, that they don't get a lease cancellation due to punitive reasons, and I think that that is all good for us."
A town hall meeting last week put the difference of opinion on the legislation on display. Out of 28 speakers at the meeting, half spoke in favor of the legislation, and half spoke against it.
"We need to pass good cause immediately because it will prevent evictions immediately," said one supporter of the measure.
But landlords in the city say it will put them out of business.
"There’s a lot of little mom and pops, and legislation like this will drive the mom and pops out."
Lawmakers said little, as they listened to the back and forth. There are several nuanced takes on the legislation. Supporters say spikes in rent have exacerbated the homeless situation in Syracuse. Megan Stuart from the Housing and Homeless Coalition of CNY said the number of homeless individuals has doubled since the pandemic.
"It [Good Cause] will not solve homelessness, but we need it to be able to help stabilize a population that is extremely vulnerable that need this," said Stuart.
Landlord Josh Jones though said this doesn’t touch the basic issue of wage stagnation, a problem facing many renters.
"This law does nothing to help low wages," Jones said. "It does nothing to help people afford the rents, or the grocery store, or insurance or health care or anything. In fact this law doesn’t do anything you are promising it will do."
Five lawmakers have signed on to the legislation, enough for the it to pass at Monday's meeting. At this point, landlords are calling for a deeper dive into how Good Cause has impacted housing issues in Rochester, Albany and Binghamton, cities that have already passed it. Landlord Joe Nastri is willing to join a task force to study the issue.
"Get together and brainstorm how we can solve these problems instead of just throwing out legislation and hoping that works," Nastri said.
But a delay is not what supporters like Dekka Eysaman want to see.
"What we can no longer accept is this is not perfect, so let's delay even further until we find something that is, because we all know that there is no policy solution that can solve a complex issue in its own," said Eysaman. "So that's not a good excuse to continue to kick the can down the road on this."
If the law passes, Mayor Sharon Owens must order a public hearing be held on the issue within 20 days. After the public meeting, Owens has 30 days to sign or veto the legislation. Owens, in her State of the City address in January, said she would support the law.
