Sickening mold, bug infestations, malfunctioning heaters, broken toilets, sexual harassment, and much more. These only scratch the surface of the conditions that many Syracuse tenants confront daily. And when tenants push back against the landlords that perpetuate these harms, they often find themselves vulnerable to retaliation, with limited legal protections to prevent unfair evictions.
Just last month, syracuse.com reported on the struggles of Kayla Deaver, a young mother living in a house where the basement is flooded with raw sewage. While it is easy enough to denounce situations like the one Deaver is facing, it is sometimes harder to see how widespread these problems are and to grasp the ways they can be changed.
As researchers studying substandard housing and community health in Syracuse, we’ve systematically talked to people like Deaver across the city. Through a series of focus groups, we’ve listened to tenants lament housing conditions that harm their health and the health of their families. Tenants are struggling with plumbing issues that lead to collapsed ceilings. They are suffering the deleterious health effects of lead paint and rampant black mold. They are worried about doors that won’t properly lock and porches that beckon as death traps.
While each tenant’s story is distinct, several underlying and interconnected realities cut across all of them.
First, tenants have little power as individuals to redress these conditions. Their concerns are far too often ignored or dismissed, and they are left to navigate these hazards on their own.
Second, many tenants are stuck in place, unable to move to a more hospitable residence given the escalating cost of rent. Nothing has been more disheartening than hearing from tenants that they cling desperately to rental properties so decrepit in condition that, as one tenant put it: “You’re coming to the conclusion that the people in charge of the upkeep for this building don’t really care if you live or die. Every square inch of your apartment tells you they don’t give a s–t.”
Third, tenants are not adequately protected from retaliation and other predatory actions. Again and again, tenants told us that — as happened to Kayla Deaver — landlords retaliated against them when they called the city’s Division of Code Enforcement.
For these reasons, we urge city lawmakers to opt into the state’s Good Cause Eviction law, as many other Upstate communities have already done, including Kingston, Ithaca, Poughkeepsie and Albany.
Good Cause Eviction is not a panacea. It will not address all the housing woes facing our communities. But so long as it is passed in its strongest version, with a landlord portfolio size of one, it would do two things that that are crucial for the rights and well-being of tenants. First, it would cap rent increases to approximately 10% each year. Rents have been increasing upwards of 20% in recent years, contributing to record levels of homelessness and Syracuse’s recent title as the nation’s most competitive rental market. Second, it would protect tenants from retaliatory evictions by restricting evictions to those carried out with “good cause.” Landlords would still be able to evict tenants who are behind on their rent or who have violated the terms of their lease, but this law would give tenants the presumptive right to stay in the property otherwise. It would be a mechanism for both contributing to housing stability and prohibiting landlord retaliation against tenants who play by the rules.
We also urge tenants to join the Syracuse Tenants Union. Tenants need a strong, collective voice when it comes to the decisions that are made that impact their lives. No one should be facing life-threatening hazards in the home. No one should be facing retaliation when they try to hold landlords responsible for their side of the bargain. The struggle for safe and affordable housing for all is not one that can be waged by an individual. Building a stronger, safer and more stable community requires that tenants join together and act on the basis of their shared interests.
Published December 5, 2024 on syracuse.com
Jamila Michener
Lansing
Gretchen Purser
Syracuse