New York City - Today, Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), led a group of New York Congressional Delegation Members in sending a letter to Governor Hochul, New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie in support of the “Prohibition of Eviction without Good Cause” bill, which is currently before the New York State Legislature. With many New Yorkers on the verge of eviction, the measure would require landlords to have a “good cause” to terminate a tenancy and allows a tenant to challenge “unreasonable” rent increases.

Representatives Nadler and Ocasio-Cortez were joined on the letter by New York Reps. Bowman, Clarke, Espaillat, Jeffries, Jones, Maloney, Meng, Torres and Velázquez.

In their letter, the Members wrote: “As members of New York State’s Congressional delegation, we write to express our support for “Prohibition of Eviction without Good Cause” (S3082/A5573), a bill currently before the New York State Legislature. We believe this measure, which requires landlords to have a legitimate reason to pursue eviction, is helpful toward ensuring that our state’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is to include all New Yorkers.”

The Members continued: “Evictions have commenced across the state, while over 500,000 households in New York are behind on their monthly housing bills. Black and brown New Yorkers are three times more likely to face eviction than their white neighbors, and 1.6 million New York households have no protections whatsoever against eviction in court. They live at the whims of their landlord - often facing eviction for something as common as calling to request a repair.”

“Tenants across New York State are facing unprecedented levels of housing instability following the pandemic and we must protect all households from evictions, especially residents in unregulated units,” said Judith Goldiner, Attorney-In-Charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “We urge Albany to pass this critical bill to help keep families housed, and applaud Congress Member Nadler and others from our Congressional Delegation for their support of Good Cause.”

Full text of the letter can be found below and here: 

March 24, 2022

Dear Governor Hochul, Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie, 

As members of New York State’s Congressional delegation, we write to express our support for “Prohibition of Eviction without Good Cause” (S3082/A5573), a bill currently before the New York State Legislature. We believe this measure, which requires landlords to have a legitimate reason to pursue eviction, is helpful toward ensuring that our state’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is to include all New Yorkers. 

Evictions have commenced across the state, while over 500,000 households in New York are behind on their monthly housing bills. Black and brown New Yorkers are three times more likely to face eviction than their white neighbors, and 1.6 million New York households have no protections whatsoever against eviction in court. They live at the whims of their landlord - often facing eviction for something as common as calling to request a repair. 

Thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act, Congress provided millions in housing assistance. We appreciate your swift distribution of rent relief through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. While we work to secure more rental assistance at the federal level, our constituents deserve basic stability in their homes. We believe it is important that they know that seeking safe living conditions or applying for rental assistance will not send them into an eviction spiral from which it is impossible to recover. 

Good Cause Eviction is simple: it bars landlords from using the eviction process to discriminate against their renters. We believe it accomplishes the following things: 

• It requires landlords to have a “good cause” to terminate a tenancy;
• It allows tenants to challenge “unreasonable” rent increases - over 150% of the consumer price index, or about 8% in 2022;
• It allows landlords to raise rents for necessary building improvements or an increase in operating costs

Rents are surging across New York State. = This market is making working-class and low-income renters vulnerable to displacement. 

Cities across New York State have responded to this crisis by passing local good cause laws, but millions of households are still unprotected. Fifty percent of those renters live in New York City, which is barred from passing local good cause legislation due to state law. 

Evictions are deeply destabilizing both for families who experience it directly as well as for entire communities where evictions are concentrated and whose residents are in constant states of upheaval. Research indicates that higher rates of eviction correspond to higher incidences of homicides, robberies, and burglaries. Families who experience eviction are twice as likely to report that their children are in poor health. When students face eviction and are forced to move, disruption during the school year worsens educational outcomes for years to come. 

We believe Good Cause Eviction levels the playing field between tenants and landlords and can protect hundreds of thousands of families from unnecessary displacement. We believe it provides a stable path forward in the wake of COVID-19, as we strive for more federal rental assistance.