Elected officers, tenants and neighborhood teams have intensified their requires passage of statewide Good Cause Eviction on this 12 months’s New York State finances, citing new information from the Group Service Society (CSS).
Housing Justice for All – a statewide coalition of greater than 80 organizations representing tenants and homeless New Yorkers united of their battle for housing as a human proper – informed Caribbean Life that legislators and housing advocates final Thursday held a press convention at 63 Tiffany Place in Brooklyn calling for passage of the measure.
It mentioned Good Trigger Eviction “would defend almost each New York tenant from lease hikes and unjust evictions.”
CSS’s new report, ‘No Good Cause, No Rent Pause,’ finds that after the State didn’t cross a significant housing bundle, together with Good Trigger Eviction, final 12 months, “unprotected renters have been unnoticed within the chilly.”
The findings embody: In 2023, 56 % of market-rate tenants – who lack any protections from lease hikes or eviction – mentioned they confronted lease hikes; rents are going up, however for unprotected tenants, dwelling circumstances aren’t getting any higher; 35 % of all market-rate tenants mentioned that they had been already behind on lease or had been about to fall behind; and in a housing inventory already vulnerable to overcrowding, 1 in 5 market fee renters mentioned they’d probably have to maneuver in with different individuals to afford lease.
Elected officers on the press convention included Sen. Julia Salazar (lead Senate sponsor of Good Trigger); Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon; New York Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander; Metropolis Councilmember Shahana Hanif; and Carlos Calzadilla, District Director for Sen. Andrew Gounardes.
The press convention was held at an condo constructing in Brooklyn, 63 Tiffany Place, the place, Housing Justice for All mentioned, “working class tenants concern sudden, huge lease will increase when their constructing’s lease stabilization settlement expires, which is tied to a LIHTC tax credit score.”
Housing Justice for All mentioned one tenant, John Levya, has lived within the constructing for almost 30 years.
Levya, who’s dealing with lease hikes, spoke out on the press convention on the need of passing Good Trigger Evictions to maintain New York households like his of their properties.
“Good Trigger would save our properties right here at 63 Tiffany Place – and if it doesn’t cross, we are going to in all probability find yourself on the street,” he mentioned. “This metropolis wouldn’t discover itself on this housing disaster had we handed Good Trigger Eviction 10 or 20 years in the past. In any disaster scenario, step one is to cease the bleeding and forestall it from spreading.
“Any wise housing plan ought to begin, at the beginning, with saving the prevailing inexpensive housing we presently have, conserving rents down and conserving tenants of their present properties,” Levya added. “And that’s precisely what Good Trigger does.”
“With out protections from lease hikes, John, his disabled son, and his neighbors are prone to be pressured out of their properties and neighborhood,” Housing Justice for All mentioned.
A Siena poll last week found that cost of living and affordable housing are two of New Yorkers’ high issues.
Housing Justice for All mentioned New York City currently faces the lowest housing vacancy rate in over 50 years, a fee that’s even decrease for low-cost housing.
“Landlords are making the most of renters’ desperation in a traditionally tight market by price-gouging renters, who’re fleeing the city in droves in search of lower housing costs in response,” it mentioned. “Good Trigger Eviction would defend tenants from price-gouging and protect New York’s provide of inexpensive housing.”
Earlier this month, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund endorsed Good Cause Eviction, citing its capability to stabilize Black renters and Black neighborhoods.
A Could 2022 ballot discovered two thirds of probably voters throughout New York state support Good Trigger Eviction.
Samuel Stein, senior coverage analyst for the Group Service Society, mentioned: “The information is obvious: one other 12 months with out Good Trigger has meant one other 12 months of rising rents and hardships for market-rate tenants.
“Most market fee tenants noticed their rents rise, however three quarters of them so no enchancment of their condo or constructing,” he mentioned. “The Legislature must get severe about tenant protections and cross Good Trigger now.”
Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, chair of the Meeting Committee on Housing mentioned: “The residents of 63 Tiffany Place are experiencing what’s all too frequent throughout the state: huge lease hikes that can power households and aged individuals out of the properties they’ve lived in for years.
“As we grapple with a worsening housing and affordability disaster, tenants want stability and safety in opposition to price-gouging and unwarranted evictions now greater than ever,” she mentioned. “Any housing deal handed as a part of our state finances should embody tenant protections and be sure that tenants are usually not left behind.”
Sen. Salazar mentioned: “This exactingly researched report substantiates the warnings now we have been elevating all alongside: Obstinate opposition to meaningfully addressing our housing disaster is just ratcheting up the stress on renters, pushing extra working New Yorkers out of their properties, and additional destabilizing our neighborhoods, particularly Black and Brown ones like ours.
“We take no pleasure in being confirmed proper, and we redouble our calls to cross complete housing reform, the centerpiece of which should be Good Trigger Eviction,” she mentioned. “With out Good Trigger Eviction’s sturdy tenant protections, the issues this report highlights will solely worsen.”
Sen. Gounardes, who represents 63 Tiffany Place, mentioned: “New Yorkers ought to give you the chance to fall asleep every evening with out worrying that they is perhaps pushed out of their house the next morning on the whims of a grasping landlord.
“The neighbors combating to remain of their properties at 63 Tiffany Place shouldn’t must battle in any respect,” he mentioned. “They — and all New Yorkers — deserve Good Trigger eviction protections in order that they and their households can relaxation straightforward with out worrying about eviction. We’re dealing with a housing affordability disaster in New York, and we have to act now.”
Assemblymember Simon, who additionally represents 63 Tiffany Place, mentioned: “It’s egregious that tenants don’t have protections from unjust evictions and big lease will increase, instigated by consumers similar to non-public fairness corporations.
“Our long-term neighbors at 63 Tiffany Place in Brooklyn shouldn’t be displaced from the very neighborhood they helped create,” she mentioned. “The Good Trigger Eviction invoice will assist deal with our housing disaster by serving to individuals keep of their properties, and defending tenants from price-gouging whereas preserving New York’s provide of inexpensive housing.
“I stand united with a powerful coalition of tenants, colleagues and advocates to push for these reforms,” she affirmed.
New York Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander mentioned: “Unregulated tenants from Downtown Brooklyn to Buffalo are at fixed danger of housing instability due to the looming risk of lease non-renewals and lease hikes amidst the gravest housing disaster in current reminiscence.
“The low-income and dealing class tenants at 63 Tiffany Place have few choices with out Good Trigger Eviction,” he mentioned. “Due to State Sen. Salazar, Housing Justice for All, and the numerous tenant-advocates who’re shepherding this life-saving invoice, we will hopefully cross Good Trigger Eviction this legislative session and preserve housing safe for 1000’s of tenants throughout the state.”
Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes mentioned: “I wish to commend the tenants and advocates of 63 Tiffany for his or her efforts to train their proper to remain. I’ve stood the place you are actually, I perceive the concern and nervousness that comes with realizing your landlord is attempting to actively evict you.
“I used to be evicted from my rent-stabilized condo of 30 years,” she added. “This was after numerous efforts by the owner to displace tenants. Tenants want protections.
“As elected officers, it’s our duty to advocate for our communities,” Mitaynes added. “Throughout New York State tenants have been calling for Good Trigger Eviction. It’s time the state Legislature hearken to them and cross Good Trigger.”
Hanif mentioned: “63 Tiffany Place serves as a primary instance of why we have to cross Good Trigger laws.
“Longtime residents of 63 Tiffany Place, one of many few inexpensive housing buildings within the Columbia Waterfront neighborhood, have been in limbo dealing with potential eviction as a result of pending expiration of their constructing’s LIHTC settlement,” she mentioned. “Entry to secure, dignified, inexpensive housing is foundational and inextricably linked to tenants’ psychological well being and well-being.
“We have to cross Good Trigger to make sure that no New Yorker, at 63 Tiffany Place or throughout this metropolis, lives in concern of value gouging or unjust eviction,” she added.
