ITHACA, N.Y. — The Common Council will soon consider a proposal for a “good-cause” eviction law, a tenant protection policy that limits rent hikes and a landlords’ ability to terminate a tenant’s lease under certain circumstances.
The news comes after state lawmakers passed a bill in April that would pave the way for municipalities to enact good-cause eviction bills of their own. Previous attempts to pass city-wide good-cause eviction laws have faced legal challenges in state courts.
The Common Council will discuss good-cause eviction protections at a committee meeting on June 20. The policy appears to have broad support among council members and local advocates.
Mayor Robert Cantelmo said a good cause eviction bill would be part of a broader effort to address the steep cost of housing in Ithaca.
“There’s not a single magic bullet that’s going to fix the affordability crisis in the city,” Cantelmo said. He added, “But by being able to provide some level of tenant protections […] that’s going to help us stabilize the affordability challenge.”
Since the onset of COVID-19, Ithaca has seen a groundswell of support for tenants rights, including a good-cause eviction policy. However, city officials put a local proposal on ice in 2022 after it became apparent such a law could likely trigger a lawsuit.
The state law enacts a limited good-cause eviction protections for some tenants in New York City. It also provides a framework of sorts for other New York municipalities to “opt in” by enacting local versions of the state law — with some limited modifications.
Under the new good-cause eviction law, landlords are obligated to give tenants in good standing a lease renewal. Tenants will not be protected if they violate the law or the terms of their lease — by withholding rent payments, for example.
The statewide legislation also limits rent increases for the units it covers. Landlords will be able to increase rent with a lease renewal by either 10%, or 5% plus inflation as measured by the consumer price index — whichever figure is lower.
Controversially, the state law also includes carve-outs that exempt certain landlords and properties from regulation. Municipalities have limited power to modify these exceptions.
The statewide law does not offer protections to tenants who rent from “small landlords.” State law allows municipalities that opt-in to the law to determine what constitutes a small landlord. In New York City, a small landlord is one that owns 10 units or less.
Units can also be made exempt if the rent payment is greater than 245% of what the federal government determines as fair market rent for that area — though municipalities can also choose to set their own threshold. In the City of Ithaca, 245% of the fair market rent for a single bedroom apartment is $3,513 a month.
Units rented as dorm rooms or a sublet are also exempt under the law.
Apartments in buildings built in or after 2009 will also be exempt from the state’s good-cause eviction protections for the next 30 years.
These exemptions were massive compromises in the eyes of some tenants’ rights advocates.
Genevieve Rand, the statewide housing organizer for the nonprofit advocacy group Citizen Action of New York, called the good-cause eviction law adopted by state legislators a “tragically gutted version of the bill.”
Rand, an Ithaca-area resident who was active in the local push for the city to adopt a local good cause eviction policy, said she still wants to see the city adopt the strongest version of the law it can.
“If we do opt-in to it in that way, it would represent the biggest advance in tenants rights in Ithaca for multiple generations,” Rand said.
As the city approaches a decision around opting in to good-cause eviction protections, local landlords have also raised concerns.
Kayla Lane, a spokesperson for the Landlord’s Association of Tompkins County and a co-owner of the Dryden Apartment Company, opposes any version of good-cause eviction law. Lane said she thinks the tenant protections offered by the law will deter local investors from the City of Ithaca and favor large private investors.
“I think that may be the unintended consequences of this law,” Lane said.
She called the good-cause law’s 30-year exemption for buildings built in or after 2009 “arbitrary” and one that would favor developers, rather than locally-owned and operated companies like hers.
“This is really gonna affect your ‘mom and pop’ [landlords],” Lane said.
The Dryden Apartment Company operates units throughout Tompkins County, and about 100 in the City of Ithaca, according to Lane.
Alderperson Kayla Matos, who campaigned on promises to fight for a local good-cause eviction law, said she supports adopting the strongest version of the law possible.
She said her stance on the policy comes in part from personal experience. Matos said she was unable to resign a lease about two years ago in an apartment she had lived in since 2009. It was a disruptive experience she said she wanted to prevent from happening to others.
“To me, that’s not fair,” Matos said. “Especially if [a tenant] is abiding by their lease, and what it said within the contract. So having good cause, it just helps with this stabilization, and really decreases displacement amongst Ithacans.”
Mayor Cantelmo called the good-cause eviction bill that passed in Albany not “what I would have advocated for.”
“If there are opportunities to strengthen these protections in the future, I certainly will be one of the voices in Albany asking for that,” Cantelmo said.
The policy will be discussed at a June 20 committee meeting of council. A draft version of the local bill is not yet available.
Correction (06/04/2024): A previous version of this article stated that Ithaca’s Common Council could choose to lower the fair market rent payment threshold exemption under the state’s good-cause eviction law below 245%. According to the state law, the council can choose any percentage.
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