Tenants drop banner off George Washington Bridge urging Albany leaders to follow New Jersey’s lead on Good Cause
NEW YORK – In response to reports indicating that Albany leaders wouldn’t include any measures to address New York’s housing crisis in the FY24 state budget, Housing Justice for All dropped a massive banner on the north side of the George Washington Bridge calling on Albany to follow New Jersey’s lead on Good Cause and released the following statement from Campaign Coordinator Cea Weaver:
“Rather than coming together to deliver for working families struggling to keep a roof over their heads, Albany leaders appear to be throwing their hands in the air. But passing a budget without Good Cause Evictions and the Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) would be a cowardly move that would cause needless suffering for millions of New Yorkers.
Skyrocketing rents and evictions won’t be solved by wishing them away. They’ll be solved by doing the hard things: standing up to the real estate lobby and passing policies like Good Cause and rental assistance that have been proven to keep housing affordable.
In the face of a record homelessness crisis, HAVP would help keep tens of thousands of New Yorkers out of the shelter system and provide a path to safe and permanent housing for people who don’t have access to any other rental assistance. Without it, the shelter population will only grow.
Meanwhile, passing Good Cause isn’t a pie-in-the-sky dream. Our neighbors in New Jersey have been protected by Good Cause since 1974, and it’s helped keep displacement meaningfully lower than New York’s while doing nothing to inhibit housing supply or new construction.
Both New Jersey and New York have a Democratic trifecta government. But rather than following the example of our neighbors, Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie are making decisions that will leave tenants and homeless New Yorkers out in the cold.
Tenants are not folding up and leaving. Support for Good Cause Eviction protections and the Housing Access Voucher Program is growing by the day. There is plenty of time left for our State’s leaders to take action to protect New York’s families from egregious rent hikes and capricious evictions. We will continue to fight in Albany and across the state until we win the protections we need.”
The banner that tenants dropped this morning on the north side of the George Washington Bridge points out the stark disparity between New York and New Jersey, which has had Good Cause evictions in place for decades. The banner is painted with two arrows, one labeled “Evictions” pointing towards New York and one labeled “Tenant Protections” pointing towards New Jersey, which has had Good Cause Eviction Protections for nearly 50 years.
The law has kept eviction rates far lower in many parts of New Jersey. According to Princeton’s Eviction Lab, for example, in Bergen County, the eviction rate as of 2018 was 6.8 evictions filed for every 100 households. Just across the river in the Bronx, it’s 20.4 evictions.
Under Good Cause, housing construction across New Jersey has stayed strong, and even outpaced that of New York. Between 2010 and 2018, for example, Hudson County green-lit twice as many new housing units per capita as New York City. In the New Jersey suburbs, the disparity is even starker, with localities adding three times as many units as in New York.