This Monday, December 11, the Newburgh City Council held a hearing to decide whether or not to opt in to the Emergency Tenant Protection Act. ETPA would create a Rent Guidelines Board with the authority to regulate rents in buildings of six units or more constructed before 1974. For Newburgh renters living in eligible buildings, a Rent Guidelines Board would be a check against greedy landlords who can otherwise raise rent at will. Activating ETPA would also provide renters with important protections, such as preventing landlords from refusing to renew tenant leases and also protecting tenants from being evicted except under legally established conditions. Under current state law, a landlord can choose not to renew a lease at will and without providing a reason. There have already been 821 eviction filings in Newburgh to date this year.

We know that Newburgh needs ETPA because its tenants are struggling to maintain their housing despite the rising costs of living in Orange County. Wages have not kept up with inflation (partially driven by rising rents), and the prospect of eviction hangs over working-class residents. When evictions do happen, they contribute to our city’s other structural problems, including homelessness and poverty.

Although ETPA would not solve our city’s housing crisis on its own, it would set the stage for more transformative reforms.
We should treat housing as a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold for the benefit of wealthy investors. If the City Council declares a housing emergency and activates ETPA, it can show its residents it is working toward addressing our housing crisis. Newburgh tenants are in crisis and there’s no time to waste.