Welcome to the Bronx, the epicenter of New York’s eviction crisis.
This is a reality I abhor. Every day, I hear from my constituents, including tenants in unregulated buildings, about notice they’ve received from their landlord on rent increasing to a completely unimaginable price or that their lease renewal was denied without any reason.
I’m asked, “Is this legal? It can’t be. I’m a model tenant. I respect my neighbors and always pay my rent on time.” And I have to answer honestly: ‘This type of practice is legal in New York State.” And it’s shameful, and it’s allowed because these tenants are deprived of “Good Cause” protections.
Last year, Gov. Hochul acknowledged New York’s housing crisis, and pledged that her administration would combat this head on come session.
In a January press release announcing her housing proposal, the governor stated that “New York State is currently facing a severe, once-in-a-generation housing crisis.”
The release also referenced Population Reference Bureau data that “more than half of New York renters are rent-burdened, meaning that they pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent – the second-highest rate in the nation. In the New York City metro area, rents have risen 30 percent since 2015 and home prices have risen 50 percent over the same period. Outside of New York City, rents have risen 40 to 60 percent since 2015 while home prices have risen 50 to 80 percent.”
Last year, 37,770 households received an eviction notice in my borough, quickly approaching pre-pandemic trends, and many of these evictions are “no-fault” holdover cases, an eviction proceeding unrelated to non-payment.
Take for example the plight facing the Ellis family, a family of 10, who recently shared their heartbreaking story with the New York Daily News. Through a City program, this family went from living in a shelter to securing a ground-floor apartment in the Van Nest section of the Bronx. Their hopes were high.
But after complaining to the city of the landlord’s refusal to provide essential utilities and basic maintenance, the Ellises were denied a lease renewal and subsequently sued in Housing Court.
The Ellis family never missed rent or disturbed fellow residents. The city even advanced the landlord six months worth of rent on their lease. They simply used their rights under the law to advocate for a better home, and the landlord retaliated by attempting to throw them to the street. And this too, is legal practice in New York state.
This is why I’m supporting “Good Cause” eviction.
“Good Cause” would require landlords to demonstrate a justification for evicting tenants in unregulated units, and would protect tenants from exorbitant rent hikes, restricting rent increases to either 3% or 1.5 times the inflation rate, whichever is higher.
The budget-neutral legislation would prevent landlords from denying lease renewals to tenants who have consistently abided by the terms of their leases, allowing tenants to advocate for repairs without the fear of retaliation.
The legislation has robust support across the state, with nearly 70% of New Yorkers, including policy and political science experts from all levels of government, in favor of passing Good Cause. Leaders of New York’s largest labor unions and New York State Attorney General Letitia James also support Good Cause.
This is the relief that was devoid from Gov. Hochul’s budget, and it’s now up to my colleagues in the state Legislature to ensure its inclusion in any final budget adopted in April.
But some in Albany have bought into the doomsday scenarios peddled by real estate that “Good Cause” would somehow exacerbate New York’s housing crisis and disincentivize development.
Let’s look over the Hudson to New Jersey, a state that has had “Good Cause”protections on the books for almost 50 years.
According to a recent article in Slate, New Jersey cities, including Trenton, Paterson, Jersey City and West New York, have enjoyed some of the lowest eviction rates in the nation thanks to its local “Good Cause” ordinance.
And this hasn’t hampered construction whatsoever. To the contrary, actually.
Garden State counties across from lower Manhattan have experienced an explosion of construction. Per a report from the Citizens Budget Commission, “New York City issued permits for half as many units as Hudson County, New Jersey, which is home to cities like Hoboken, Jersey City, Union City and Bayonne, which face many of the same land constraints as neighborhoods in the five boroughs.”
New Jersey isn’t an outlier, and other jurisdictions including Oregon and Washington have these protections codified as law, and Los Angeles enacted a similar measure earlier this year.
Families like the Ellises deserve a place to call home. It’s both morally wrong and bad public policy that unscrupulous landlords can retaliate with impunity against tenants who protest deplorable living conditions, forcing them from their homes onto the street or back into the local shelter system.
I know that the Ellises aren’t alone, and my colleagues hear similar horror stories from constituents in their districts.
We can finally end this nightmare this session by passing “Good Cause” and I implore my fellow lawmakers to do right by their constituents and join me in codifying this needed legislation.
Yudelka Tapia is a New York State assemblymember representing District 86 in the Bronx.
This op-ed was updated on March 23 at 3:51 p.m.
