Syracuse City Auditor Alexander Marion has released a report on the impacts of opting into New York State’s Good Cause Eviction program has had on Syracuse tenants. Auditor Marion’s chief recommendation from the report is that the City of Syracuse opts into the state’s Good Cause Eviction program, setting the unit threshold at 1 unit and affordability percentage at 345%. The full report is available here.
“Good Cause Eviction is just common sense: it protects tenants against excessive rent hikes, requires landlords to demonstrate a valid reason for evicting tenants, and ensures tenants in good standing can ensure lease renewals,” said Syracuse City Auditor Alexander Marion. “Too often, the deck is stacked against tenants who, when facing eviction, are left with nowhere else to go but shelters and the streets. Syracuse needs to adopt this law as soon as possible, with a 1-unit threshold and 345% affordability level, to ensure the maximum number of tenants are covered.”
Earlier this year, a resolution opting into the state law was introduced by the Syracuse Common Council and indefinitely tabled. In 2022, a resolution was passed 8-1 supporting a statewide Good Cause Eviction law.
State Law & City Decisions
Earlier this year, New York State passed a Good Cause Eviction law, requiring municipalities to opt in. The law gives tenants in good standing a guaranteed right to a lease renewal; caps rent increases (at 10% or CPI plus 5%, whichever is lower, this year would be 8.45%); and requires landlords to provide a reason for evicting a tenant, such as failure to pay rent, causing a nuisance, violating the lease, engaging in criminal activity, choosing not to sign a lease renewal, and failing to provide landlord access to the apartment. Landlords can also evict a tenant if they are removing the property from the rental market, repurposing the property for themselves or an immediate family member, or demolishing the building. The law also exempts properties built from 2009 onwards for 30 years.
The City of Syracuse can decide the affordability percentage (rent threshold required to be considered a luxury unit, as a percentage of the area’s fair market rent) and unit threshold (establishes the number of units a landlord must own to be subject to the law) for Good Cause. Every City has done the same unit threshold (1 unit) and nearly the same affordability percentage (345%, except for Kingston, NY, which chose 300%).
Currently, seven communities in New York have opted in: Albany, Kingston, Beacon, Ithaca, New Paltz, Poughkeepsie, and Newburgh.
Impact on LLCs
Setting the Unit Threshold to 1 would ensure Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs), which own 38% of the City’s rental units, are not exempted from the law.
More than 1,700 unique LLCs own more than 4,000 residential properties, accounting for more than 17,000 housing units, or about 38% of rental properties. Nearly 2 out of 3 rental property-owning LLCs own just one property; 49% of LLCs own two units or less. The likelihood a property is owned by an LLC increases with the size and number of units of a property. 6% of single family residential homes are owned by LLCs while 33% of three-family residential and 52% of apartments are owned by LLCs. More than 64% of LLCs that own rental property own just one property; 92% own 5 or fewer. 69% rental-owning LLCs own 5 or fewer units.
Homelessness
Auditor Marion’s report highlights the direct line between evictions and homelessness. According to data released from the Homeless and Housing Coalition of Central New York, there has been a 63% increase in homelessness since 2019 and a 192% increase in family homelessness in that time. The Syracuse City School District has approximately 10% of its students eligible for McKinney-Vento benefits, extra support for homeless and housing-vulnerable students, at any given time.
45% of people in Central New York experiencing homelessness – more than 2,000 people – were previously living in a place where an eviction suit was brought against them or the leaseholder.
Evictions and the Housing Market
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the City of Syracuse has seen a dramatic spike in evictions, with 2023 seeing 2,139 eviction warrants filed in Syracuse City Court. In 2024, nearly 1,300 were filed just through August, or an average of 160 per month.
The average wage to afford a two-bedroom unit in the City of Syracuse is between $19.42 and $25.38 per hour. Rents have increased at some of the fastest rates in the nation, with rental prices going up 22% year over year from February 2023 to February 2024. More than 60% of Syracuse residents are renters.
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