With Good Cause Eviction law facing repeal in Kingston, city looks to Albany for answers

“KINGSTON, N.Y. — The city’s Common Council implored the state government on Tuesday night to pass a Good Cause Eviction law.

In a memorializing resolution, the council asked Albany lawmakers to pass a law that would make it illegal for landlords to evict tenants without a clear explanation — like failure to pay rent, violating the terms of the lease, causing a nuisance or breaking the law.

“Both houses in the legislature were committed to passing Good Cause through the budget. Legislators, tenants, and advocates fought hard for it until the very end when the Governor took all housing policy out of the budget in the last minute. It is the priority of the legislature to push housing and tenant protections, with Good Cause as a priority, immediately after the budget in the remainder of the legislative session that runs till June 8th,” said Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha, D-Esopus.

For The Many, a local non-profit that focuses on housing justice among other topics, said in a statement, “We’re pleased that tonight, the Kingston Common Council passed a unanimous, bipartisan resolution calling on Governor Hochul and the state legislature to pass Good Cause Eviction. After today’s state budget passed without any tenant protections, we only have a few weeks left in the session to get this done. We need Kingston representatives like Senator Hinchey to put words into action by co-sponsoring Good Cause and fighting for it in Albany.””