GOOD CAUSE EVICTION BILL AIMS TO PROTECT NEW PALTZ TENANTS

A new bill is aimed to protect tenants from being evicted without “good cause.” Rent prices are increasing nationwide. But the good cause protections, if passed, would prevent landlords from imposing major rent increases, from unreasonable evictions and from refusing to renew the tenant’s lease — unless, of course, a judge agrees there’s good cause to do so.

The bill, which was proposed in 2019 and revised in 2020, would still allow landlords to evict tenants who have stopped paying rent, break rules and laws, among other reasons considered valid to evict someone.

“Today, many residential tenants from across New York State are being evicted for unjustifiable reasons,” states the justification section of the Bill. “They lack basic rights that will allow them to renew their expiring lease and to not be priced out of their homes. Landlords across our state are displacing tenants in order to gain higher profits.”

Ulster County residents are rent-burdened. 57% of renters in Ulster County spend more than 30% of their total income on housing, according to a fact sheet posted by For the Many, a progressive grassroots organization in New York, formerly known as Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson.

“The Good Cause eviction bill would protect not only our fellow students, but the artists and working people that our community depends on,” says Sarah Bale, the campus outreach intern for For the Many.

“Only around 25% of the students at SUNY New Paltz reside on campus, the issue of unaffordable housing directly impacts a majority of New Paltz students,” Bale says. “In the Hudson Valley, Black, Latino, and multiracial residents are more likely to be renters and rent burdened compared to white renters… the main advantage of passing this law is to ensure that our own neighbors are not being pushed out of our community.”