Will Croton-on-Hudson opt in to New York State’s new Good Cause Eviction Law?

Tenant advocates fought hard to get even these “light” protections for renters. The village Board of Trustees seemed favorable at its latest work session.

Tenants’ rights advocates address Board of Trustees work session

In recent months Croton’s Board of Trustees has been in overdrive handling applications for new housing developments in the village, as well as conducting discussions and public hearings about local housing policy. Last Wednesday evening’s work session agenda was no exception. But while recent meetings have seen a parade of developers pleading their cases for large projects at sites like Lot A and 1 Half Moon Bay Drive, it may have been a nice change of pace for some residents to see advocates of tenants’ rights make an appearance.

The Board heard from advocates who had come to argue that Croton should adopt a local version of New York’s new Good Cause Eviction Law, which was passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Kathy Hochul last April. Here is a brief description of what the law does, taken from the state’s Website page on the legislation:

“Good Cause Eviction is a New York State law that went into effect on April 20, 2024. It gives some tenants of unregulated (also known as “market rate”) homes in New York City new protections. Landlords of homes covered by the new Good Cause Eviction requirements cannot end a tenancy without a ‘good cause’ reason and tenants can use this law as a defense in Housing Court. Tenants can also use the law to challenge rent increases above a certain level if they are evicted for nonpayment of rent. The law applies to eviction cases started on or after April 20, 2024, meaning cases where the landlord first filed documents in court to begin the case on or after this date.

Good Cause Eviction is enforced through the courts, so tenants who wish to challenge an end to their tenancy, or who have questions about a rent increase, should refer to additional resources listed below and seek legal counsel.”

The effort to get Croton to “opt in” to the new law began in earnest last July, when two Croton residents—Theo Oshiro, a member of the Croton-Harmon Board of Education who works in advocacy for low income and immigrant communities, and Peter Feigenbaum, a long-time activist with the Working Families Party—wrote to Mayor Brian Pugh urging the village to adopt the protections provided by the law. They pointed out that the legislation has already been adopted by a number of municipalities, including Albany, Ithaca, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, and Nyack.

In a key part of their argument, Oshiro and Feigenbaum wrote:

“Median rents in the Village of Croton-on-Hudson have increased more than 20% over the last five years, straining family budgets and pushing many of our neighbors out of their homes and away from their schools, jobs, and communities. Nearly 40% of renters in Croton are rent-burdened, paying more than a third of their income to rent each month. Good Cause Eviction will give renters recourse to challenge rent hikes over the Consumer Price Index plus 5% (8.82% in Croton this year) or 10%, whichever is lower in any given year. It will ensure that so long as a tenant is paying the rent and abiding by the lease, they can renew it and stay in their home.”

On Wednesday evening, Oshiro and Feigenbaum addressed the Board, together with Ellen Davidson of the Legal Aid Society—who has been conducting trainings around the state on the new legislation—and NYC-based housing advocate Jennifer Hernandez. The Board members seemed generally favorable towards adopting a Croton version of the law, although, as trustee Ian Murtaugh commented, the state law is not particularly strong in its protections.

“Sounds like this law has a very light touch,” Murtaugh said, adding that if the law is violated “the onus is on the tenant who has to have the chutzpah to go to court.”

Ellen Davidson agreed, telling the Board that “it is not a strong form of regulation. It’s relatively weak.” Nevertheless, the village cannot adopt a stronger version of the law in its current form. Moreover, the law exempts buildings constructed after 2009, meaning that tenants living in all of the ongoing and proposed new developments in Croton—including all of the new affordable housing units—would not be covered.

The law also exempts all buildings that are already protected by stricter laws or regulations, such as New York’s Emergency Tenant Protection Act.

In a later comment to the Chronicle, Davidson told us that the 2009 building cut-off was “included in the bill at the behest of the real estate lobby.” In fact, the real estate industry and its allies mounted a major campaign against the law, forming a thinly veiled front group called “Homeowners for an Affordable NY” and retaining a lobbyist who was paid at least $1.4 million.

State Senator Julia Salazar was lead sponsor of New York’s law/ Photo by Luis Rodriguez/Community Service Society

For some time Governor Hochul did not commit herself to signing the law, but eventually she did, thanks in large part to a significant lobbying effort by tenants’ rights advocates and organizations. (For details on how the law should work in practice, see this link.)

In the discussion with the Board, Davidson commented that while the law was not as strong as tenants’ rights advocates might have wanted, it has already had a good effect in communities where it is in force. “It encourages landlords and tenants to have conversations” rather than immediately engage in hostilities including court battles, she said.

According to Village Manager Bryan Healy, at present the main ways tenant-landlord disputes come to the attention of the village is either when they land in our local Justice Court, or when people walk in to the municipal building, call, or email to report problems. If the Board of Trustees passed a local law, Healy told the Chronicle, it would probably include language about enforcement. Such enforcement would likely be handled through Croton’s Engineering Office, but that would depend on what the Board decided if and when it passed the legislation.

Despite some reservations, the trustees seemed favorable to Croton adopting the legislation. Mayor Brian Pugh, for his part, argued that passing such a law is already envisioned in the village’s current legislative goals.

“Our Village Board, through our annual legislative resolution, has consistently advocated for the adoption of a ‘good eviction law’ in New York State,” Pugh told the Chronicle. “Thanks to the hard work of a grassroots movement across New York over many years, the state has enacted such a law.”

As for Wednesday evening’s work session discussion, Pugh added:

“The consensus of the Board, as expressed at Wednesday’s meeting, is to adopt a local tenant protection law that is robust as legally permissible, one that covers all eligible units. I think the reasonable way to evaluate such a law is in comparison to the status quo, which is tilted in favor of landlords and against tenants. Adopting good cause eviction will rebalance the equation."

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