In a 5-4 vote, the Common Council decided to remove a tenants rights bill from its agenda.
Video Transcript
Protesters: Stop the hate! Stop the fear! Trans people are welcome here
Babe Nash: It was a politically active week in Syracuse.
Babe Nash: There were several protests like this one held throughout the city. There was also a quiet upheaval in the Common Council.
Genghis Khalid Muhammad: The Council just killed the good cause bill in Syracuse.
Babe Nash: But what is good cause?
Alexander Marion: Good Cause Eviction protects tenants from unfair and retaliatory evictions it guarantees tenants in good standing a lease renual, and puts a good cap on rent increases.
GKM: It prevents the landlord from being able to put people out for frivolous reasons.
Babe Nash: Good Cause eviction has now been adopted in Albany, Rochester, Newburgh, Ithaca, Poughkeepsie amongst several other cities.
Babe Nash: And this is not a stop on evictions as some have tried to say
GKM: Their arguments was to say that, then they wouldn’t be able to, uh, deal with the bad elements, that was like drug-drug-people’s that’s pushing drugs or prostitution. And that’s not really true cause if they’re breaking the law, and they can prove that they’re breaking the law, they out.
Babe Nash: 60% of the people who live in Syracuse are renters. They don’t own their homes and many of those people don’t live in apartments complexes, they live in single family homes like these ones.
Babe Nash: These people are particularly vulnerable to something landlords might do call an “LLC Loophole”
Alexander Marion: One of the reasons we need the best version of Good Cause possible is to ensure that-that we do not inadvertently carve out properties owned by LLC’s.
Babe Nash: If a landlord creates an LLC that company technically owns all of the properties. This can be beneficial to a landlord if they violate city codes or private leases.
Marion: We can only address it with the LLC we can’t hold the owner accountable.
Babe Nash: The failure to adopt Good Cause eviction in Syracuse is a dissapointment to some
Marion: We are not protecting vulnerable people in their homes where they need it the most
Babe Nash: For others?
GKM: It’s a wakeup call. Let everybody know, we cannot be playing around we gotta get serious. And we gotta take more direct action.
Babe Nash: In Syracuse, Babe Nash, NCC News
Syracuse, N.Y. (NCC News) – On Feb. 3 the Syracuse Common Council decided, in a 5-4 vote, to remove a bill for Good Cause Eviction legislation from their agenda. Good Cause Eviction is legislation that is meant to protect renters from unfair evictions and untenable rent increases. A version of Good Cause was passed by the New York State government in April of 2024 that allows local governments to opt into the protections if they so choose.
In August of 2024, in what was supposed to be a Syracuse Common Council meeting to hear the public’s thoughts on the Syracuse Housing Strategy Project, speaker after speaker came up to the mic and instead pleaded with the Council to adopt Good Cause Eviction legislation. After the August meeting, the Common Council repeatedly discussed and dissected the legislation but never put it to a vote.
The removal of Good Cause from consideration entirely was not the decision many wanted or expected. Alexander Marion, the Syracuse City Auditor, is disappointed with the decision. Marion has spent a lot of time researching and advocating for Good Cause since he came into office in 2024.
“We are not protecting vulnerable people in their homes where they need it the most,” Marion said.
As reported by the New York Times, between 2022 and 2023 Syracuse had the largest average increase in rent in the country and homelessness has been increasing steadily since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2023 CNY Central reported that 1 in 10 Syracuse students were homeless due to a lack of affordable housing. Good Cause is believed to be able to keep rent prices lower so less people will end up on the streets.
There is a lot of work being done to try and protect renters throughout the state of New York. Cities like Albany, Rochester, Ithaca and Poughkeepsie, among others, have adopted Good Cause legislation. But many other areas, like Syracuse, are meeting roadblocks.
“There are some very powerful special interests out there that want to make sure that tenants have as few legal remedies as possible,” Marion said.
While Marion was disappointed in the Common Council’s decision, others weren’t as surprised. Genghis Khalid Muhammad or GKM is an organizer with the Syracuse Tenants Union who has focused on public advocacy. He has spent almost three years with the Union traveling all over New York state -and outside of it – in order to speak with others about housing rights and safety. He said that the decision didn’t catch him all that off guard.
In an optimistic light, GKM said the killing of the Good Cause bill might be a kind of “wake up call” for the people fighting for tenants rights.
“You cannot be playing around,” he said, “We gotta get serious and we gotta take more direct action.”
It is currently unknown if or when Good Cause legislation will be proposed again by the Syracuse Common Council so organizations like the Syracuse Tenants Union may have to take different approaches in order to accomplish their goals of protecting tenants.
“Everybody should be able to have food, clothing and shelter equitably,” GKM said, “and no government should deprive a fellow human being for these necessities of life.”