Alexander Marion is the City Auditor of Syracuse. Maurice “Mo” Brown is an Onondaga County Assemblyman representing the 15th District of the City of Syracuse.

What do you see when you think of homelessness? A beggar on a highway ramp? A line of people outside a shelter? A person sleeping on a bench?

You should think about children.

According to the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Central New York, homelessness has increased by over 40% since 2021. 75% of these individuals have never been homeless and 65% are families with children. Rents in Syracuse have increased by more than 22% year over year. In court, two-thirds of eviction cases end with warrants that throw people – families with children – onto the streets or into shelters.

This is a crisis. We know there are solutions – more housing, better housing – but these are long-term and require significant investments. The eviction crisis is on our doorstep today, and Syracuse is demanding a solution that makes an immediate impact.

That solution is a good cause eviction law for the city of Syracuse. The good cause eviction law eliminates no-fault evictions – evicting a tenant just because the landlord wants to – and gives tenants the right to basic due process during an eviction. Contrary to popular belief, it does not prohibit evictions. Rather, it requires a landlord to provide a court with a valid reason for evicting a tenant, such as criminal conduct, nonpayment of rent, or denying the landlord access to the property.

Good Cause also limits rent increases to around 10% per year – enough to keep improving properties but not force a low-income tenant to move out. It also guarantees tenants who do not violate their lease the right to an automatic renewal. This is crucial; it prevents landlords from evicting tenants in revenge for things like calling the building inspectorate to report problems.

Evictions place both a social and financial burden on our communities, and these two factors are closely linked.

We need to examine the costs to our local governments: Where do people go when they’re displaced from their homes? On couches, in shelters, or on the streets. That means more public money is needed to stabilize their lives – more social services, more social workers, more support as children transition between schools. While charities have historically played much of that support role, we can’t expect them to meet the current need – and we have a moral obligation to provide housing for our communities.

Evictions are a civil, not a criminal, process: There is currently no guaranteed right to legal representation in housing court, leaving tenants in a chaotic situation with legally and financially savvy landlords. Good Cause levels the playing field and guarantees tenants important due process rights. Good Cause has also been proven to reduce the number of evictions overall, which reduces the burden on the docket and speeds up other important housing court proceedings.

When New York State introduced Good Cause Evident Eviction earlier this year—a law sponsored by Syracuse Assemblywoman Pam Hunter and Senator Julia Salazar—upstate communities were required to opt in. The law allows communities to determine two key factors that determine who the law applies to: affordability percentage and portfolio size.

Syracuse now decides which housing units will qualify for Good Cause protection. The cities of Albany and Ithaca have set their affordability threshold at 345% of market rate, covering a wide range of housing units.

Municipalities are allowed to exclude landlords who own a smaller property portfolio. We believe the portfolio size should be set at one unit. Unscrupulous landlords have used legal techniques to hide property ownership behind anonymous limited liability companies (LLCs) – instead of one real estate company or individual owning a multitude of properties, each property is registered as its own LLC, but ultimately under the control of a single owner. This privacy shield creates another hurdle for tenants, who are likely to experience the worst days of their lives during an eviction and have to navigate without legal representation. Tenants should not have to become private investigators to find out who actually owns their apartments.

We are not the only ones supporting Good Cause: an initial proposal was introduced by Councilmen Corey Williams, Jimmy Monto, Patrona Jones-Rowser and Rita Paniagua. We look forward to a robust public discussion. In 2022, a supporting council resolution passed by a vote of 8 to 1, including from current Councilmen Chol Majok and Rashaeda Caldwell. Locally, we are also supported by county representative and housing activist Palmer Harvey. Good Cause is supported by organizations such as the Greater Syracuse Labor Council, Citizen Action, Housing Justice for All, Syracuse Tenants Union, Syracuse DSA and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Stable, quality housing is the foundation of stable communities. The passage of good cause eviction protections in Syracuse will make a difference for years to come as we continue to take steps to improve housing outcomes for all of our residents.