Assemblymember Pamela J. Hunter (D-Syracuse) announced that two bills she sponsored to strengthen tenant protections and help ensure safe, affordable housing for Central New Yorkers have passed the Assembly.

“It’s hard enough finding affordable housing in Central New York; hardworking families shouldn’t also have to struggle with corrupt landlords and unsafe living conditions,” Hunter said. “That’s why I’m committed to fighting for tenants’ rights and doing everything I can in Albany to ensure all New Yorkers have access to safe and affordable housing.”

The legislation would bar a landlord from collecting rent without a certificate of occupancy to ensure dwellings are safe and habitable (A.1646). Another measure would allow tenants to deduct utility payments from their rent in situations where a landlord is delinquent in paying agreed upon utilities (A.3190). These bills would help ensure landlords keep their housing healthy and suitable for tenants, and would give tenants the compensation they deserve if landlords don’t comply, noted Hunter.

While communities across the state are suffering from an affordable housing crisis, residents in Syracuse are particularly impacted. Every year, Syracuse landlords bring roughly 7,000 tenants to court and about 5,500 cases end in eviction, putting an average of 11,000 people out of their homes, sometimes with less than a week’s notice. With 25% of Syracuse’s residents being forced to move every year – which is more than twice the national average^[1] – Hunter is taking action to combat this pressing issue.

The measures that passed this week are just two of several bills Hunter has introduced this year to protect tenants’ rights. The first bill in Hunter’s legislative package passed the Assembly earlier this year and would allow individuals with disabilities to terminate their lease without penalty if they need to move to housing that better suits their needs (A.2118).

The rest of Hunter’s tenants’ rights package includes measures that would:

• require landlords to provide contact information to tenants to discourage absenteeism and substandard conditions (A.1652);
• ensure rental properties are equipped with utility services prior to renting properties (A.4946); and
• set eviction standards to prohibit eviction without good cause (A.5030-A).

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[1] syracuse.com/news/2017/06/have_your_boxes_packed_syracuse_landlords_evict_more_than_10000_people_every_yea.html