Newburgh City Council voted unanimously on Monday, September 9 to repeal and replace Chapter 240, “rental properties,” Article III of the City Code, entitled “prohibition of eviction without good cause.” After three years, the city has now officially opted into Good Cause Eviction legislation. Good Cause officially passed in New York State in April of this year.

The idea to officially opt into Good Cause first came before the council and public in 2021. A hearing was held and the council voted it into law. A year later, however, the law was ruled null and void by the Orange County Supreme Court, even as it has continued to be advocated for by advocate groups and residents.

At the Council’s work session on Sept. 5, Corporation Counsel Michelle Kelson briefly explained that municipalities can choose to opt into Good Cause through the adoption of a local law.

Kelson further explained that, under state law (which wasn’t in place at the time of its first passage by the City Council), there are 10 grounds for establishing “good cause” to support an eviction. One example is the failure to pay rent, provided that the failure was not due to an unreasonable rent increase.

Furthermore, there are 15 exceptions to “good cause” grounds. One example is situations where the building is owner-occupied and has 10 units or less.

Both full lists of grounds and exceptions are available on the city website in the Sept. 9 agenda documents.

Comments on Monday night were all in support of the legislation, coming from various housing and tenant advocacy groups and citizens who have been following the legislation.

“I’m here to support the very strong version of Good Cause Eviction,” said Stephen Pampinella. “I want to thank the council and our mayor, of course, for your strong positions defending renters rights and tenants rights in this city. It is so important to note how passing Good Cause has swept through the Hudson Valley but earlier, years ago, of course, you did it first.”

“I want to start by thanking you [the city council] for considering Good Cause Eviction and putting the strongest possible version on the agenda for a vote tonight. Newburgh is majority renter. The vast majority of residents support this bill,” said Daniel Atonna. “The only people who oppose Good Cause are greedy landlords and developers.”

“Thank you again for putting good Cause Eviction legislation on this agenda in the strongest form you can. And I thank all of you who are going to vote to pass this tonight,” said Peter Frase. “I am a single family homeowner, neither a tenant nor landlord. Good Cause Eviction is important to me because it allows my friends who are tenants to remain in Newburgh and because it stabilizes my neighborhood by preventing people from being capriciously thrown out of their homes.”

“According to the New York State eviction data dashboard, as of August 30, Newburgh City Court has seen 250 eviction cases filed against residential tenants who live within the City of Newburgh, 56 of these cases were holdovers, and 194 for the non-payment of rent,” said Allie Dentinger, a law graduate of the Hudson Valley Justice Center. “As a council when passing policies and tenant protections, consider how many of those 56 holdover cases were filed without a good cause, and how many of those non-payment cases were the result of an exorbitant rent increase that the tenant could not reasonably afford. Also consider how many residents throughout the city experienced a housing crisis this year that strong tenant protections would have prevented.”