SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) — Earlier this month, members of the Common Council heard from residents, landlords and realtors on the possibility of the Good Cause Eviction law being implemented in Syracuse. Good Cause Eviction aims to protect tenants from unreasonable evictions, while also letting landlords raise prices at a reasonable rate to combat rising costs. Good Cause Eviction has already been implemented in cities such as Albany and Ithaca. One landlord, Jonathan Geller, felt the law did not properly account for landlord needs.
“We can’t protect our buildings and remove marginal residents or people who are causing issues in the buildings. And it’s starting to affect other tenants. That’s a problem,” said Geller. “We have to be able to police our own properties for the best interest of everyone who’s living there.”
Currently, Syracuse uses an affordability percent to determine if a landlord qualifies for good cause, as well as a unit threshold. The city cites homelessness as a reason for implementing Good Cause Eviction. Syracuse has seen a 63% increase in homelessness. But Don Radke, the director of the Syracuse Realtors Association argued that Good Cause Eviction won’t actually solve Syracuse’s housing crisis, and instead encourage people to move to the suburbs instead.
“If I’m a developer, and I have a choice of going to community A or community B and community A has legislation that caps rents, that creates a perennial lease which means that a tenant can stay there as long as they’re not violating any laws and paying rents can stay there as long as they want. That developer is not going to come to Syracuse,” said Radke.
The Common Council is planning on holding more community discussions on Good Cause Eviction; it is unknown when or if the law will make its way into Syracuse.