The upstate New York city passed an ambitious resolution to wipe away rental debt accrued during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Ithaca Common Council approved a resolution that would give the mayor the authority to forgive all outstanding rental debt accrued over the last three months.
“This is a statement to the state that if they’re not going to do something to address this problem, give us the power,” said Stephen Smith, an alderperson on the Ithaca Common Council who voted for the resolution. The proposal, which Smith described as a “last resort,” must still be approved by the New York State Department of Health. The measure would also ban evictions in the city, freeze rents at their current levels and oblige landlords to offer lease extensions to tenants.
“We’re already seeing tenants in Ithaca getting threatened by landlords,” said Liel Sterling, a Cornell student and co-founder of the Ithaca Tenants Union, the organization leading the effort to pass the local resolution. “We know that mass evictions lead to mass homelessness. The state has showed time and time again that they’re willing to go to bat for landlords and homeowners. This is a way of saying that we need to protect the most vulnerable people first.
“It’s become clear that Congress is going to bail out the people at the top and let the people at the bottom drown,” Myrick said. “The idea [of canceling rent] still has problems but it’s better than the reality that we’re living in.”The urgency in passing the resolution came from the looming expiration of New York State’s blanket eviction ban on June 20.
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