For the past year, Syracuse tenants have been suing their landlords to ensure their homes are habitable as part of a tenant protections bill passed by Albany lawmakers in recent years.
And while the bill, titled the Tenant Dignity and Safe Housing Act, has yielded success in getting repairs ordered by a Syracuse City Court judge, advocates for renters say it hasn’t yet reached its full potential in helping improve the conditions of Syracuse’s housing crisis.
Housing advocates say the Tenant Dignity and Safe Housing Act is part of a toolkit that could help tenants remain in safe homes at a time when the city has a shortage of housing in good habitable condition, a lack of options for tenants to move to, glaring issues of affordability, and all-time-high numbers of people without a home…