Pass the Right to Renew Leases in Ithaca
Ithaca Common Council
Read more: https://ithacaTU.org/r2r
At any time, your landlord can decide not to renew your lease for next year, then evict you without giving a reason. That’s not right!
This power lets landlords discriminate against and displace tenants, with no oversight or consequence. The solution is to Pass the Right to Renew (a.k.a. Good Cause Eviction) — this right should belong to tenants, and since we make up over 70% of Ithaca’s population, we CAN win it if we work together.
The Right to Renew law will do two things:
Give tenants the right to renew our leases if we want to
Require landlords to prove they have Good Cause before evicting us
Because of this, landlords use non-renewal as a way to discriminate against marginalized tenants — without the Right to Renew Leases, people can be forced out of their homes just because a landlord doesn’t like or respect them. This disproportionately affects People of Color and LGBTQ+ tenants in particular. Right to Renew will require landlords to prove they have a valid legal reason — also known as a Good Cause — before evicting, giving all tenants equal eviction protection under the law.
Removing the roof over someone’s head is an act of violence that can destroy lives, and at the very least, tenants deserve legal oversight for such a process. As tenants of Ithaca and homeowners standing in solidarity, we express our support for the Right to Renew legislation, and ask that Common Council and the rest of City government join us in this support.
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Ithaca Common Council
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It’s easy to see that housing displacement is a problem in Ithaca. Gentrification has pushed poor and marginalized residents out of the downtown area and toward the outskirts of the city — and in many cases, outside Ithaca entirely. This breaks up communities, families, careers, and more. Neighborhoods like Southside, Northside, and Fall Creek have seen the effects of this process in recent years.
A major tool in carrying out this displacement has been lease non-renewal, since right now, tenants have no say in that process. Even if we’ve followed our leases to the letter, landlords have the power to force us out by refusing to renew them. That’s not right.
Because of this, landlords use non-renewal as a way to discriminate against marginalized tenants — without the Right to Renew Leases, we can be forced out of our homes just because a landlord doesn’t like or respect us. This disproportionately affects People of Color and LGBTQ+ tenants in particular. Right to Renew will require landlords to prove they have a valid legal reason — also known as a Good Cause — before evicting us, giving all tenants equal eviction protection under the law.
Removing the roof over someone’s head is an act of violence that can destroy lives, and at the very least, we deserve legal oversight for such a process. As tenants of Ithaca and homeowners standing in solidarity, we express our support for the Right to Renew legislation, and ask that Common Council and the rest of City government join us in this support.