The Kingston Common Council voted unanimously last week to adopt a new tenant protection law which, proponents say, will discourage rent-gouging and arbitrary evictions. The July 2 vote makes Kingston the second city in New York, after Albany, to opt into the state’s new “Good Cause Eviction” law.

The law, introduced by councilmembers Michele Hirsch (D-Ward 9) and Michael Tierney (D-Ward 2,) requires landlords to offer current tenants new leases and forbids evictions without cause. Tenants may still be evicted for failing to pay rent, breaking lease agreements and using the property for illegal purposes or if there is a change of use, such as conversion to a single-family home. The law also effectively caps rent increases by allowing tenants to go to court to challenge evictions for non-payment in cases where a landlord has raised the rent by more than the rate of inflation plus 5 percent. As the law takes effect, the maximum permitted rent increase stands at 8.45 percent.

Landlord advocates have pushed back on the law by claiming that it would make it too difficult and expensive to evict problem tenants and discourage property owners from making capital improvements and keeping their properties well-maintained.

In a major win for housing activists, city lawmakers opted to set the threshold for inclusion in Good Cause Eviction oversight at just two units with an exception for owner-occupied properties with 10 or fewer units. Proponents of Good Cause Eviction have expressed concern that limiting the law to larger real estate portfolios would encourage property owners to use New York laws governing limited liability corporations (LLCs) to break up large holdings into multiple smaller ones to get under the cap.

“Kingston has won a major victory for housing justice by passing Good Cause Eviction legislation, and by enacting the strongest possible version of the law by eliminating potential loopholes,” said Tierney in a statement issued by left-wing activist group For the Many. “Kingston tenants such as myself will now have recourse against predatory evictions or rent increases, and feel a sense of security in their homes.”

For The Many is one of a number of social justice groups that have been at the forefront of efforts to get Good Cause Eviction on the books. In 2022, after repeated failures to get a statewide version of the law passed the group began pushing municipalities to adopt local versions of the legislation. In 2022, Mayor Steve Noble signed onto the effort at a City Hall press conference where he expressed support for the local law while flanked by FTM representatives. The council subsequently passed the legislation only to have to rescind it the next year after courts sided with landlord advocates who argued local Good Cause legislation unlawfully infringed on state housing law.

This year, the same activist coalition managed to pass a statewide version of the law as part of the annual state budget process, overcoming fierce opposition from New York’s powerful real estate lobby. Despite the victory, progressives expressed disappointment with the law claiming it had been fatally watered down by a requirement that upstate communities opt into the law instead of opting out, something they said would likely leave many thousands of tenants in small towns and rural areas outside of its protection. Democratic Socialists of America-aligned 103rd District Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha was among a group of progressive lawmakers who voted against a final version of the bill to express discontent that it did not go far enough. But in a July 3 statement, Shrestha commended the council for passing the law and especially for setting the cap for inclusion at two units.

“The only way we can ensure Kingston tenants are protected under Good Cause is by covering tenants with landlords who own more than one unit — and that is exactly what the Common Council has done,” Shrestha wrote. “According to American Community Survey data, 60 percent of tenants in Kingston live in buildings with 1-4 units, so increasing the portfolio-size exemption would have left out a significant number of renters.”