Mayor pushes for lease renewal law
Proposal would prevent landlords from removing tenants in good standing
Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson is pushing for a new local law that would require landlords to automatically renew leases if their tenant was in good standing.
If enacted, Hudson would be the second municipality in the state, after Albany, to have a “good cause” eviction law, which removes landlords’ ability to easily displace tenants once their lease runs out.
Johnson, appearing at a news conference in Hudson alongside New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, said protections for tenants were more necessary now than ever.
“We’re seeing gentrification sweep through our city at an alarming rate,” he said, mentioning the new census figures, which showed Hudson’s population dropping more than 10 percent in a decade.
Hudson’s population has been falling since it peaked at the beginning of the 20th century. In recent years, residents have been pushed out as rental prices have skyrocketed, a trend exacerbated
by the pandemic-inspired flight from New York City. Much of the population loss comes from multifamily dwellings being cleared out for a single tenant or owner.
The falling population had negative impacts on the city, Johnson said. The John L. Edwards Elementary School in Hudson closed several years ago because of the falling youth population, and Columbia Memorial Health, the county’s only hospital, stopped offering birthing services.
Jumaane Williams said cities like Hudson need to “put pressure on Albany to do the right thing.”
“We’re not going to wait for the help, so we need localities to step in when the state or federal government is not doing the job that it’s supposed to,” he
said.
Tenants rights advocates have pushed New York to adopt a statewide “good cause” eviction law for the past several years, though they failed to get it included in the Emergency Tenant’s Protection Act,
the last major tenants rights bill to become state law.
The new law would require landlords to justify the displacement of residents, Williams said.
“You have to present the case to someone and provide
the reason why you’re evicting them — that is a basic protection that should be extended to anyone whose home you’re about to take away,” he said.
The proposed Hudson law, which was introduced during the Aug. 9 informal Common Council meeting, still allows a landlord to remove a tenant, but only through eviction court.
Furthermore, a tenant cannot be evicted for nonpayment of rent if the rent has increased more than 5 percent annually. A landlord would have to argue in front of the court that the increase was justified for the eviction to go through.
A landlord would still be able to evict tenants for reasons such as illegal activity or damage to the property. Tenants could be evicted if a landlord wanted to move into the house themselves, or if they sold the property under the terms that it would be delivered to the new owner tenant-free, according to the bill.
Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition Managing Director Michael Gattinesuarez gave an example of the type of displacement the proposed law would prevent: a family was recently displaced at the end of their lease because their landlord refused to renew, telling the family they planned to raise the rent $200.
“Under this law, that couldn’t happen,” Gattinesuarez said.
Johnson, Williams and Gattine-suarez were joined at the news conference by Second Ward Alderwoman Tiffany Garriga, who supports the proposed law.
The proposed law will next be seen by the Common Council legal committee with a possible vote by the full Common Council during their September meeting.
The news conference was held in front of Bliss Towers, Hudson’s only public housing project. There is a two-year waitlist to get in.