News
NYS Legislative Session 2023
Good Cause is a Bad Bill
Mar 20, 2023
Sunday, 3/19/23 WROC TV8 " interview and report. ('Good Cause Eviction' bills resurface in NY senate, assembly (rochesterfirst.com)
If you support Good Cause Eviction, you will be responsible for the continuance of the housing crisis. The number of Tenants who will experience an increase is going to skyrocket. This bill allows for every single property owner/manager to implement a 3% or 1.5x CPI increase (CPI is calculated every 2 weeks and now equals +6% change since Feb 2022. https://www.bls.gov/cpi/factsheets/escalation.htm) This will mean, for example, $1000 rent will increase annually at the annual CPI rate of 6 x 1.5 which is 9% for a total increase up to $1090 in year 1, $1122 in year 2 (3%), and $1155 (3%) in year 3. Even if the math is imperfect here, do we think tenants who have had the same rate for years are going to be thankful? What about those on fixed incomes? Earned income is certainly not increasing at these rates.
This bill all but guarantees a rent increase every single year by more than 3%. Language from the bill says that an unreasonable increase is “if rent has been increased in any calendar year by a percentage EXCEEDING EITHER 3% or 1.5 times the annual percentage change in CPI for the region in which the housing is located, as established of the August preceding the calendar year in question, whichever is greater;” According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measures of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services which includes food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living.”
Is this Economics 101? If allowed, this legislation will reinforce allowable increase, and there will be automatic increases which will drive up the CPI and continually drive up the metric for calculation of rent. Unfortunately, private property owners and managers are not thankful either because through this process, it is forcing an increase in CPI that affects the cost of every other service and commodity needed to provide housing. We know legislators are looking to appease tenants unions and advocates, but this bill is full of unintended consequences that will be unreasonable for us all.
Encourage your legislators to STOP THIS BILL FROM AUTOMATICALLY INCREASING RENTS EVERY YEAR; to STOP THIS BILL FROM MAKING FALSE PROMISES FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY TO TENANTS. Instead, FOCUS EFFORTS ON HOW TO SUPPORT LANDLORD-TENANT RELATIONS. FOCUS EFFORTS ON RE-FUNDING ERAP. FOCUS EFFORTS ON HCR TO HELP BUILDERS CREATE NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR THOSE WHO NEED HOUSING THE MOST.