SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) – Syracuse residents are asking the City Common Council to do more to protect tenants.
On Tuesday, July 30th the people of Syracuse filled the Common Council Chamber during a public hearing to discuss the proposed Syracuse Housing Strategy Plan. Announced in April of this year, the plan is meant to assist in the revitalization and reconstruction of houses throughout Syracuse starting in the Tipperary Hill and Salt Springs neighborhoods. Nearly all of the speakers at the hearing spoke in favor of adopting the strategy but even those who support it are asking the Council to do more.
The most common request was for the Common Council to pass Good Cause Eviction regulations.
Good Cause regulations protect tenants from being kicked out of housing without a valid reason. Jocelyn Richards, an organizer with the Syracuse Tenants Union, says that the city’s work should not stop with the Housing Plan. “In addition to the Strategy we need to have protections for tenants in terms of protecting against exorbitant rent increases, evictions when tenants try to call code enforcement to ask for repairs, and also displacement,” Richards said.
With Syracuse facing a shortage of affordable housing many residents are hoping the Common Council will take tenants worries into account as well when going forward with the Housing Strategy.
