As budget stalls in Albany, AOC and progressives rally for ‘good-cause eviction’ measure

Albany must include “good-cause eviction” once it finally passes the stalled state budget, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive electeds said at a Wednesday rally in Astoria, Queens.

“Fighting to pass good-cause eviction is essential,” the Democratic congresswoman, who represents a swath of the Bronx and Queens, told a crowd in Athens Square. “We have to push Gov. Hochul to make sure that she includes this in the budget.”

The good-cause evictions bill, first introduced in 2019, would bolster protections for tenants in non-rent regulated apartments by barring landlords from kicking them out without “good cause,” such as failure to pay rent or creating a nuisance.

The legislation also specifies that rent increases greater than either 3% of the previous rental amount or 1.5% of the Consumer Price Index — whichever is higher — would be considered “unreasonable” and not a basis for eviction.

State Sen. Julia Salazar, who originally sponsored the bill, reiterated her commitment to the heart of the bill while expressing openness to negotiating the specifics as part of the budget deal. The Brooklyn Dem added that discussions were underway about the thresholds for what would be considered an “unreasonable” rent increase.

“We know that it’ll be necessary to negotiate, make modifications to the bill as it’s written,” Salazar told the Daily News. “It’s really essential that we maintain the integrity of the bill.”

Local versions of good cause have been struck down in courts throughout the state, including last month in Albany.

The rulings have kicked the issue to the state level, where many progressive electeds and housing advocates hope it will be folded into the state budget as negotiations drag on. Hochul, who has made housing a cornerstone of the budget, deflected when asked about good cause last month.

An estimated 1.6 million renter households in the state would be covered by the changes, according to the Community Service Society of New York.

Landlords and the real estate lobby have long opposed the measure. Industry groups maintain that good cause would “devastate New York’s existing housing supply, raise rents for nearly every tenant, discourage new development, and bankrupt thousands of small property owners,” Greg Drilling of Homeowners for an Affordable New York said last month.

But housing advocates maintain that good cause would provide vital protections for vulnerable tenants struggling to make ends meet, particularly after the expiration of the pandemic-era eviction moratorium.

Julia Cabrera, a tenant advocate with Make the Road New York, spoke about her housing struggle at the rally on Wednesday. The Queens resident of 25 years told the crowd her rent has increased by $1,100 in the past five years, to $3,200, even as she struggled to get hot water.

“This solution is not sustainable,” she said in Spanish. “Tenants can no longer wait.”