Village of New Paltz passes Good Cause Eviction
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – On Wednesday, following extensive organizing by grassroots organization For the Many, the Town Board of the Village of New Paltz voted unanimously to adopt Good Cause Eviction at the local level, which the state granted municipalities authorization to do earlier this year. A group of New Paltz residents including a professor at SUNY New Paltz, a homeowner, and multiple tenants and students spoke in favor of Good Cause Eviction prior to the vote, citing rising rents and evictions—which Good Cause would give tenants recourse against—as causes of Ulster County’s unprecedented housing crisis. Photos from the meeting are available here.
“The fight for tenant protections has so often been concentrated in Hudson Valley cities, while villages like New Paltz are also feeling the devastating effects of the housing crisis,” said Jenna Goldstein, Ulster County Organizer at For the Many. “The Town Board’s decision to adopt Good Cause Eviction is an important reminder that tenants everywhere need and deserve the same rights. No matter how big or small the municipality, For the Many is committed to ensuring as many renters as possible are protected from unfair rent hikes and evictions.”
“Our community needs to work harder to achieve a fairer distribution of power between landlords and tenants, and it is our job as the government to work on local legislation that addresses those power dynamics—in this case opting in to Good Cause Eviction,” said Alex Wojcik, Deputy Mayor of New Paltz. “Giving tenants negotiating rights for engaging with landlords gives us a bit more power as a class of people than we currently have. Our community is only as strong as our most vulnerable members. Right now, New Paltz is only as housing stable as my friends living in tents in the woods; New Paltz is only as housing stable as your friends or coworkers living in their cars; we are only as housing stable as those who do not have homes because they didn’t have a right to renew or the roadmap Good Cause Eviction could have provided. Good Cause Eviction is only one tool, and it won’t solve all our problems, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t try to equip our tenants and landlords with as many tools as possible during this neverending housing crisis.”
For the Many began organizing to pass statewide Good Cause Eviction in 2021 and was joined in the fight by Wojcik, one of four For the Many-endorsed candidates who led the charge for the measure. In 2024, the state passed a version of Good Cause Eviction that requires municipalities outside New York City to opt into the law. New Paltz is the second village in New York to adopt Good Cause Eviction, following the Village of Nyack, which opted into the law at the end of September. Like the versions of Good Cause adopted by Nyack and the cities of Albany, Beacon, Ithaca, Kingston, Newburgh, and Poughkeepsie, New Paltz’s newly passed law includes the strongest protections possible: a portfolio size exemption of 1 and a high rent exemption set at at least 300% of Fair Market Rent.
The campaign for Good Cause Eviction in New Paltz is For the Many’s fifth successful campaign for local adoption of the law, and was helmed by the organization’s student volunteers, who face particular challenges accessing housing. The organization is continuing to organize in the cities of Hudson and Middletown, as well as the Town of Poughkeepsie, for strong versions of Good Cause as part of its Renters Rising campaign to expand tenant protections in the mid-Hudson Valley. For more information about tenants’ rights and other housing resources, tenants are encouraged to visit housingforthemany.org.
