ITHACA, N.Y. — A public hearing spurred another round of local debate over the “good cause” eviction legislation, which would require landlords to provide causation for evicting tenants, before Common Council votes on the law next month.
The public hearing over the controversial law’s future featured over 40 speakers almost equally split between supporting and opposing the law. Overall, 22 people spoke against the legislation, while 20 people spoke in favor.
The good cause eviction legislation, also popularly called “the right to renew leases,” would require landlords to provide a legal cause for evicting tenants, who could be denied a lease renewal without explanation or cause until a state law was passed in April. The law allowed municipalities to either opt in or out of good cause eviction protections, though the law automatically applies to New York City property.
Landlords can still evict tenants for several reasons, including non-payment of rent or using the unit for illegal activity. The law would also cap rent increases at the lower number between 10% and 5% plus inflation, calculated by the consumer price index. Higher rent increases can be implemented, but must be justified by the landlord, usually by showing expenses on the unit.
Dorms and sublets are exempt from the state’s law, as well as buildings constructed in or after 2009 — though those buildings would come under good-cause protections in 30 years.There are also exemptions for high-priced units in the City of Ithaca’s proposal, which states that units rented at above 345% of the area’s fair market rent (or $4,497 per month for a single bedroom in Ithaca) would be exempt, a tougher metric than the statewide law that sets the higher threshold at 245% of the area’s fair market rent.
Ithaca Common Council sends “good-cause” eviction law to public hearing
Members of the Common Council are scheduled to vote on the legislation at their July 10 meeting. Council members did not engage in feedback with the crowd gathered at the public hearing, but will further publicly discuss the matter before the vote at the July meeting.
Those in favor argued that the time to act is now, considering the brutal local rental market and with the avenue for legal enactment of good cause eviction laws recently opened by state lawmakers. Opponents argued the legislation would hurt the local housing market and was being forced through council too quickly without adequate time for feedback.
Dozens of people showed up, signs in hand, calling for council members to approve the legislation. Many attendees in support of the law were organized by the Ithaca Tenants Union. But they were met with plenty of pushback from local landlords who have long decried the legislation as unfair to small landlords and that it hamstrings their ability to deal with problematic tenants.
Supporters pushed the simplicity of the law, positing that landlords should not be evicting tenants who are following their leases anyway, and that violations of the lease would still be grounds for eviction.
“The answer to that question, ‘What do I have to do to keep living in this nice, affordable apartment,’ should be you pay your rent and you abide by the terms of your lease. That’s precisely what this legislation would accomplish,” said Nathan Sitaraman, a former Common Council candidate who spoke in favor of right to renew. “The answer to that question should not depend on things like how many units your landlord has, what their portfolio size is.”
Sitaraman, and those who also spoke in support, argued that a person should not be subjected to evictions or non-renewal if they are not violating the terms of their lease, particularly when those actions can lead to homelessness or housing instability for tenants. The importance of all of these protections is accentuated, they argued, in a city that is so heavily populated with tenants.
Local landlords and representatives of local boards of realtors brought forward various concerns they say derail the legislation’s merit. The law would negatively impact the local rental housing market, several said, arguing that the city’s tweaks to the state’s legislation would discourage small landlords from holding on to their properties. In turn, said one, local ownership of rental units could dwindle.
“The recent experience of our members in our association indicates that local property owners with modest portfolios will be incentivized by this legislation to sell their portfolios to out-of-state buyers and investors,” said Brent Katzmann of the Ithaca Board of Realtors.
Additionally, opponents objected to city lawmakers’ intention to apply the law to any landlord who owns more than one unit of rental housing in Ithaca. The state’s law carved out an exception for landlords who own 10 or fewer units.
Those in opposition also argued that the legislation would not create any housing and would not improve local zoning, meaning it would not address the root cause of the housing market crisis in Ithaca — which they say is a lack of supply of all types of housing, from low-income to luxury and rental units to ownership.
This approach was critiqued by those in favor of the legislation who argued that despite the city’s ongoing development boom, rising citywide rents are still a perennial concern.
“No, it does not create new housing, [but] creating new housing when the rent is too high and unregulated helps nobody,” said Victoria Pagliaro Katz, a renter who spoke in favor of the legislation. “Even the new buildings that claim to be low-income housing are unaffordable. Low market rents mean nothing when market value is too high.”
Some objected to the speed at which the legislation could be approved by the Common Council. Though good cause eviction was a popular but controversial topic locally in previous years, it fizzled in 2022 amid potential legal issues.
With those issues now seemingly cleared after the state law’s passage, Mayor Robert Cantelmo announced his intention to reinvigorate the good cause discussion in early June. Last week’s public hearing provided the primary opportunity for feedback from the community before the scheduled vote next month.
“The pace at which this proposed legislation has been presented, brought to public comment and scheduled for vote is unreasonably fast for legislation with such significant impact on our property owners and taxpayers,” Katzmann said.
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