Good thing Eviction measure moves closer to law in Rochester

ROCHESTER, NY – Good Cause Eviction is one step closer to becoming law in Rochester.

City Council President Miguel Melendez released a report Friday afternoon recommending that the council approve an eviction for good cause, with some changes.

The report recommends that Rochester law require any landlord with two or more units to adhere to the terms of a charity. State law exempts landlords with 10 or fewer units.

If the city council approves the measure, landlords with two or more apartments would have to have good reasons to evict a tenant even after the lease expires.

There would also be a limit on how much landlords can increase rent.

Melendez said the measure will be considered by the Council as soon as possible, likely in November or December.

The City-Wide Tenant Union of Rochester called on the Council to adopt these protections without delay. CWTU Tenant Organizer Lisle Coleman released the following statement on behalf of the organization:

“This report confirms what Rochester residents have been saying all along: our community needs strong good-cause eviction protections to keep families in their homes, and we need them now. The overwhelming support for the Cause from 90% of participants in four public forums – both renters and homeowners – demonstrates the deep, citywide demand for this vital legislation.
“Nine cities in the northern part of the state have already taken action and passed comprehensive eviction protection laws that prioritize stability and tenant protections. By closing loopholes and curbing exploitative practices, these communities have shown the way forward.
“We are grateful for the City Council’s clear recommendation to pass the strongest possible version of eviction protections for good reason and close loopholes that would lock out tens of thousands of renters. Now it is time for the Council to act decisively and deliver on the promise of stable, fair housing for all Rochester families by approving a strong cause at the November City Council meeting.”

Matt Drouin, an area property owner and president of the Freedom First Real Estate Investors Association, issued the following statement Friday:

“We recognize that the housing system has been broken for decades. We appreciate that policymakers are making an attempt to solve this problem, but deportation for good reasons is not the case. There are two problematic parts of the legislation.
“1.) Lease for life. Since the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 and the eviction moratorium during Covid, these regimes have required housing providers to increase income and credit requirements to rent apartments to residents. This has led to housing providers leaving properties vacant for extended periods of time due to the risk of non-payment. Under the Lease For Life provision in GCE, imagine how many people would get married if you couldn’t get a divorce? GCE will ensure that housing providers exercise even greater supervision and do not rent homes to families who urgently need housing RIGHT NOW. Plus as for the fact that you can only evict for good reasons. When it comes to reasons beyond non-payment, what evidence of violation would housing courts need to grant an eviction notice? I have had to evict tenants before because of drug trafficking and that turned out to be impossible. I couldn’t get a police report. I couldn’t get written reports from neighbors because they feared reprisals.
“2.) Rent control. In the city of Rochester we don’t have a housing problem, we have an income problem. According to city records, there are currently 2,052 total vacant housing units for 1 to 4 families. This does not include the number of partially vacant buildings that require further investigation. Why are these units vacant? Firstly, because it costs more to renovate and put them back into use than the tenants can pay in rent. If rents were too high, we wouldn’t have such an alarmingly high number of vacant homes. Furthermore, under the GCE it would encourage the proliferation of more slumlords. The only way a responsible housing provider can improve deteriorated rental properties (the city has a lot of them) is by raising rents to finance the cost of this. Remove this incentive and housing conditions, especially for low-income families, will become worse because the only people who will own or buy this type of housing are cash-flow investors (also known as slum landlords). Moreover, GCE is not fair. High-income neighborhoods in the city that have rental inventory tend to have high turnover. People rent as a way to save money to buy a home and then move out, allowing the housing provider to raise rents to market rates to keep up. As a result, neighborhoods with middle and higher incomes are becoming increasingly inaccessible to people with lower incomes. At the same time, moderate-to-low-income neighborhoods tend to have higher retention rates, which keeps housing costs artificially low and eliminates income mix in communities.”