The looming eviction crisis
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Eviction cases are skyrocketing, but there are steps the state can take to avert more homelessness.
by Times Union Editorial Board
New Yorkers could see it coming: a housing crisis heading for the state the past two years like a slow-moving lava flow.
But while a force of nature may not be stopped, there are steps the state can take to protect people from at least some of the looming market forces — unfair evictions high among them.
State officials looking for a bellwether need search no further than New York's capital city, which appears to be on track to log some 3,000 eviction cases this year, according to the city's housing services advocate. Undoubtedly, those 3,000 eviction cases represent even more household members, raising the specter of hundreds, perhaps thousands, more people being added to the ranks of Albany's homeless, which in recent years have been estimated at around 750. Beyond the human tragedy and suffering of that alone, consider the strain this means on the services that now struggle to feed and shelter them.
We're not saying there aren't difficult tenants who just simply won't pay the rent and who make life miserable for neighbors. But there are bad landlords, too, including those who refuse, inexplicably, to work with tenants to obtain back rent under the state's Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
This doubtless isn't limited to Albany, but it offers a case in point right outside the windows of Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature. And there are things they can do.
The governor could start by signing legislation headed for her desk soon to allow cities to deal with a problem of landlords who fail to keep their properties habitable and up to code but then try to evict tenants who withhold rent to try to pressure them to make repairs. One measure would require landlords to submit, as part of an eviction case, their rental occupancy permit, which requires rental units to be inspected before they're rented out. It's a way of ensuring that landlords don't rent substandard units and then punish the tenants for speaking up, or withholding rent when repairs aren't made. Fewer than half of Albany properties involved in evictions, the city found, have such permits.
Another bill would allow courts to put properties in need of critical repairs into receivership, letting the receiver use rent payments to make improvements the landlord had refused to do.
The state should also revisit the statewide good-cause eviction law, similar to Albany's local law, which had been in legal limbo but which remains, fortunately, in effect for now. Good-cause eviction policies — which have been adopted in several other cities, including Kingston and Beacon —require that landlords meet one of 10 conditions to qualify as having "good cause" to evict a tenant. It can guard tenants against predatory rent hikes and give tenants greater power in lease negotiations. It levels the playing field somewhat for tenants, but has long failed to pass the Legislature.
It's no secret that the real estate lobby, with its political contributions, has enormous influence in the Legislature. It's also no secret that New York has a homelessness problem and a housing crisis. State leaders have a choice: Side with their donors, or side with the untold numbers of people who may be about to end up on the streets — many through no fault of their own, but because of the greed that keeps those campaign donations coming.