NEW YORK (PIX11) — New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams renewed his call for state lawmakers to pass the Good Cause Eviction bill on Thursday.
If the Good Cause Eviction Bill were to become law, a landlord would need to show justification to evict someone from an unregulated apartment, like failure to pay rent or a lease violation. Rent hikes would be capped as well.
“We’re seeing an increase in people going to housing court, people being evicted,” Williams said.
PIX11 recently spoke with a Bronx family facing eviction after their landlord declined to renew their lease, despite the family paying their rent on time every month.
“I told my kids that we would never go back to the shelter,” Anissa Bosmond told PIX11.
Their housing attorney Navneet Kaur explained, “as the laws are right now, in a case like this, the landlord does not need a specific reason. Not renewing the lease is enough.”
Good Cause Eviction Legislation could be passed as part of the ongoing state budget negotiations.
When recently asked if she supports the legislation, Gov. Kathy Hochul did not answer directly. However, her office points out Hochul is working on expanding the state’s Tenant Protection Unit.
Ann Korchak believes the legislation goes too far. She’s a small landlord on the Upper West Side.
“When all building expenses go up, rents need to rise to cover those expenses,” Korchak said. “We wouldn’t want to be the generation where the family business fails.”
