NYC NOW - May 15, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: May 15, 2024

State officials are alerting New Yorkers with EBT cards about a scheduled outage from midnight to approximately 11 AM Sunday for system updates. In sports, the Knicks are one victory away from their first Eastern Conference Finals since 1999 after a Tuesday night win over the Pacers at the Garden. The New York Liberty also triumphed in their season opener against the Washington Mystics. Meanwhile, New York's Good Cause Eviction Law aims to limit big rent increases and help tenants stay in their apartments, but its numerous exceptions have confused many renters, including some of our listeners. WNYC’s housing reporter David Brand breaks down what he’s heard and answers some questions.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. It's Wednesday, May 15th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. State officials are warning that New Yorkers with EBT cards will not be able to access their cash or food benefits for much of this Sunday. A temporary EBT outage is scheduled for midnight until about 11 Sunday morning to allow for system updates as a new contractor is brought on. Officials say card holders should plan for it and do any shopping or make any cash withdrawals before this Sunday. They also say the outage could be shorter or longer than the scheduled time.

The Nix R1 went away from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals. They could punch that finals ticket Friday night in Indiana against the Pacers. And last night, the New York Liberty beat the Washington Mystics in their season opener 85-2-80. 62 with showers and clouds now periods of rain today, mid-60s for a high, and then tonight periods of rain once again, 58 in gusty. Rain likely morning and afternoon tomorrow, cloudy and 65 in gusty on Friday, partly sunny, mid-70s. Stay close. There's more after the break. On WNMIC, on WNMIC. I'm Sean Carlson.

New renter protections intended to limit big rent increases and help tenants stay in their apartment were put in place by New York lawmakers during this year's budget negotiations, but the new good cause law is filled with carveouts, caveats, and gray areas that leave some renters with questions. And many of our listeners have been reaching out to share some of their experiences and confusion with the policy. So joining us to discuss the new good cause eviction laws and answer some of your questions is W&MIC's housing reporter David Brand.

So David, W&MIS listeners have been reaching out to describe their experiences with the good cause eviction law. What have they been saying? That's right. I've heard from more than 20 people so far with their experiences or their questions about whether they're covered and if they are, what does that mean for them? So this new law is supposed to cap rent increases at 8.82%. So about 9% or require landlords to offer a lease renewal unless they have a good cause for raising the rents higher or for denying the lease. So that's where you get the name from the good cause law. It's really a game changer for a lot of tenants. But I'm hearing from renters. who are hopeful and confused because they don't know how the law is going to help them. So I met with tenants in Bushwick who say their landlord denied them a lease renewal in February, but their lease expires at the end of this month, and they say they think they should qualify for a new lease. Alexa Garcia is a bartender, and she says she and her two roommates are planning to challenge a landlord to stay in their place because it's affordable for them,

and they think they qualify. So, you know, she thinks a lot of other renters in that situation might just give up. They know people aren't going to spend the money to fight it or do something about it. They will just suck it up and leave, even though it's really, really hard for everybody here to do something like that. It's New York City. It's crazy. There's another tenant in Williamsburg who got hit with a $1,300 increase thinks he's covered. People in Clinton Hill facing a $1,200 increase.

They want to be covered. someone in Manhattan who's getting hit with a nearly $2,000 rent. Oh man, you could rent a whole other apartment with the $2,000 rent in grades. So how are these issues being resolved? Well, it's really early days in the new law. So everything is kind of in flux. People are still getting up to speed here. I have heard some positive outcomes from tenants.

This renter named Sarah Brown, she lives with a roommate in Williamsburg. They pay $2,700 a month. Pretty decent for two-bedroom in Williamsburg. The landlord wanted to raise their rent to about $3,200. a month. So that's about a 20% increase. But Brown says she learned about good cause right at the buzzer here. I came across a TikTok about Good Cause and that it came at the perfect time. It was just really lucky timing. She says she saw that TikTok. She researched the building and she found out she should be covered. So she emailed the landlord and the landlord responded with a new lease renewal down from 18 or 20% to just 8.5% on.

that good cost threshold. You know, not every outcome, though, is good for the tenants. I mentioned that person in Manhattan getting hit with that $2,000 rent increase. They're paying $7,100. The landlord was going up to $9,000. They're probably out of luck because the law only applies to apartments with rents at about $6,000 or lower. A lot of people, though, still dealing with kind of messy situations. They're not sure where they stand and how things are going to get resolved. Landlord saying they send a lease renewal with a big increase before the new law and that they should be grandfathered in, tenants might want to challenge that in court, so we shall see. What can tenants do to challenge exorbitant rent increases? And what is the process?

Well, housing lawyers say this law will work best of tenants and landlords communicate. So tenants say the increase is higher than good cause, like in that situation of Sarah Brown and Williamsburg, landlords can respond and say, yeah, you're right under this law. We're not justified. landlords could tell the renters, you know, we have to do this rent hike because we have these expenses. And under the law, they can justify a rent increase if they are facing new expenses. And that could include new higher property taxes, higher insurance bills. And, you know, that could be up to a court to decide where they stand on that. The good cause law just gives tenants of defense in housing court if their lawyer files to evict them. And then, you know,

that could trigger a lengthy court case and we'll see what happens after that. There's going to be some precedent, I think, coming out of these cases. Yeah. And our last 30 seconds here, David, what about landlords? Is this all capping their ability to raise rents? No, not if they have a valid reason for raising the rents, especially if they have some big new expenses themselves, like I was saying. You know, I've been talking with a couple in Williamsburg. They got hit with that $1,300 rent increase. They told the landlord about good cause. Landlord responded saying, actually, the tax break we have is expiring. So we're going to get a huge property tax increase, hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So we are justified in making this rent increase. The tenants told me, you know, rather than fight that, they're just going to move. And they found a new apartment recently. That's WMIC's David Brand. More of David's reporting on this will be available on our news website, Gothamist. David, thanks so much. Thanks, Sean. Thanks for listening.

This is NYC now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. Also subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. We'll be back this evening.