Good Cause Eviction: Resources and Information
Oksana Mironova
Since 2018, CSS has worked with Housing Justice for All on enacting Good Cause Eviction protection in New York State. We have advocated strongly for Good Cause because it would provide tenants with a baseline right to remain in their homes by prohibiting non-renewals and no-fault evictions unless a landlord proves good cause.
Further, the law would also require landlords to justify rent increases greater than 3 percent or 1.5 times the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is higher. An unreasonably high rent hike at the end of a tenant’s lease term can serve as a de facto eviction notice. The failure to pay rent, substantial lease violations, committing or permitting a nuisance, and apartment use for illegal purposes all qualify as “good causes” for eviction.
Under the current legislation (S.305 Salazar/A.4454 Hunter):
- About 1.6 million renter households in New York State—nearly half of the state’s renters—would gain new coverage under good cause eviction protections.
- For all counties outside New York City, over 50 percent of renters would be eligible for good cause protections. In half of New York’s counties, at least 2 of every 3 households would be eligible. (See a breakdown of eligibility by county here.)
- About 784,000 renter households in New York City would be newly covered, including tenants living in smaller buildings, buildings built after 1974, and buildings that have been deregulated.
Please find resources about Good Cause eviction protection below:
- In No Good Cause, No Rent Pause: In the Wake of Government Inaction, Rents Keep Rising, we lay out why Good Cause eviction protections are more important than ever in 2024 in light of new information from our Unheard Third Survey.
- In Good Cause for Alarm: Rents Are Rising for Low-Income Tenants in Unregulated Apartments we show how many low-income New Yorkers are imperiled by the lack of Good Cause eviction protections.
- In Good Cause Legislation Would Protect 1.6 Million Households, Nearly 50% of Tenants Statewide, we outline the geographic coverage of Good Cause Eviction protection, by county.
- In Racial Justice and the Right to Remain, CSS, NYU’s Urban Democracy Lab, and the Pratt Center find that Good Cause would extend protections for New York State’s Black renters, and bolster state and local anti-discrimination laws.
- In an Urban Agenda column for New York Amsterdam News, CSS CEO David R. Jones argues that Good Cause is one of six new measures that would boost recovery for the New York City's Black communities.
- In Right to Remain: A Case for Full Coverage in Good Cause Eviction Protections, CSS and the Pratt Center analyze the state’s high-cost rentals, finding multigenerational and immigrant households in need of Good Cause protection.
- In The Truth About Good Cause and Housing Supply, CSS and the Pratt Center debunk several myths purported by opponents of Good Cause.
- As part of our advocacy in support of Good Cause, CSS has submitted testimony at various hearings. Read our testimonies to the New York State legislature, New Paltz Village Board, and Beacon City Council.
- The need for Good Cause legislation has intensified during the pandemic, but rising rents and unjust evictions were already a growing burden for tenants prior to 2020. In May 2019, the late Tom Waters analyzed New York’s statewide housing affordability crisis.
- Good Cause legislation will help tenants and homeowners alike. In a City & State op-ed, CSS President & CEO David R. Jones explains why.
Additional research on the impact of Good Cause on New York State’s immigrant communities is coming soon! Follow CSS on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and sign up for email updates to stay in the loop.