Good Cause Eviction Failed in Syracuse. The Vote Was 4-4.

Syracuse Common Council voted on Good Cause Eviction on February 23, 2026. Four council members voted yes. Four voted no. The measure failed.

Two of the no votes came from council members who had publicly backed the legislation. Marty Nave said he made his final decision that morning, after a renter constituent emailed him worried the law would raise his rent. Donna Moore had been going back and forth for days. She had taken more than 125 constituent contacts by the time she voted; 85 percent of them opposed. With one council seat vacant and Council President Rita Paniagua barred by the city charter from casting a tiebreaker on local laws, the 4-4 deadlock was final.

Seventeen other municipalities across New York have opted into the statewide Good Cause law since it took effect in April 2024. Albany was first, in July. Rochester followed in December, calling its version the “strongest possible.” Binghamton’s city council passed it unanimously in February 2025; the mayor vetoed it; the council overrode him. Syracuse is now the largest upstate city that has not adopted it. Tenant advocates have said they intend to try again. One vacant council seat stands between the current tally and a different result.

What the Law Does

New York’s statewide Good Cause Eviction law, effective April 20, 2024, does two things for units it covers. It caps annual rent increases at the lesser of 10 percent or CPI plus 5 percent — as of April 2025 in the New York region, that ceiling was 8.79 percent. And it restricts the grounds on which a landlord can refuse to renew a lease or pursue an eviction. Nonpayment, nuisance, illegal activity, owner occupancy, and verified demolition or market withdrawal are still valid. Wanting different tenants is not. A lease expiration date alone is not. Landlords must give 30 to 90 days notice — depending on tenancy length — before any rent increase above 5 percent or before declining to renew.

How much of Syracuse’s rental stock would fall under those rules depends almost entirely on the exemptions, and the exemptions are where the debate has always lived. Under the state default, buildings with 10 or fewer units are exempt. New construction with a certificate of occupancy issued after January 1, 2009 is exempt until 2039. Units renting above 245 percent of HUD Fair Market Rent — roughly $2,200 per month for a one-bedroom in the Syracuse metro — are exempt. In a city where most rental housing is in duplexes, triplexes, and four-unit conversions, the 10-unit threshold could exempt most of the market.

Except: every municipality that has opted in since April 2024 lowered that threshold to one unit. Not a few of them. All of them. Albany, Rochester, Binghamton, all 17. The 10-unit state default exists on paper. In practice, it functions as a floor that opted-in cities immediately lower. If Syracuse eventually votes yes, the real negotiation will be over that number.

A report from City Auditor Alex Marion, released before the vote and recommending adoption, identified a second structural issue. Roughly 38 percent of Syracuse’s rental housing is held by LLCs. A landlord who owns 50 units across 15 separate LLCs could argue each entity clears the 10-unit exemption independently. Marion recommended any opt-in apply to “any entity that owns one or more housing units” — the language every opted-in city used.

The Numbers Behind the Push

One-bedroom rents in Syracuse rose approximately 22 percent in a single year — the highest rate of any U.S. city. The vacancy rate in Q4 2023 was 1.8 percent. Syracuse City Court processed 2,951 eviction cases in 2024, roughly 160 warrants per month, the highest rate since at least 2019. Judges sided with landlords in 64 percent of those cases. In holdover proceedings — evictions not tied to nonpayment — the landlord win rate was 95 percent. An estimated 13,000 to 15,000 people face eviction in the city each year. Marion’s report found that a third of eviction cases displaced residents from three zip codes on the south and west sides, where affording a two-bedroom apartment requires earning $19 to $22 an hour.

The concern that flipped Nave’s vote was a renter, not a landlord. His constituent was worried the law would cause his rent to go up. That concern has evidence behind it. Landlords in rent-capped markets often raise rent to the maximum allowed every year regardless of market conditions — because they know their future flexibility to adjust is gone. The cap can become a floor. Pat Goodyear, a landlord who spoke before the vote, put it directly: “When I tell Natasha and Fred that their rent is going from $950 to $1,600 so I don’t lose equity in my two-families… that comes back on all of you.” Tom Riddel, president of the CNY Landlords Association, said the same thing: “I will have to adjust all of my tenants’ rents, which penalizes the good tenants.” Both were describing the same dynamic: locking in a higher baseline before the cap takes effect.

Marion’s report dismissed the threat as a bluff, saying landlords “will continue to find ways to successfully operate their businesses.” It was not a convincing enough rebuttal to hold the two votes that flipped.

What Already Applies

Syracuse has not opted in. The rent cap and just-cause eviction requirements do not apply here. One provision of the statewide law does apply to Onondaga County landlords, and most are not aware of it. Since August 18, 2024, every 14-day rent demand served anywhere in New York must include a statutory Good Cause Eviction disclosure — a notice stating whether the unit is or is not covered by the law. Omitting it is a ground for case dismissal. If you served a rent demand in Onondaga County after that date using the same form you used before, the case may be vulnerable.

Mayor Owens said she was disappointed and would continue working toward housing stability. Council President Paniagua proposed a housing task force. Councilor Moore said she would not support Good Cause in any future vote. The vacant seat, and whoever fills it, is the most direct path forward for advocates who plan to bring it back.