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Citizen urges Binghamton to commission an RFQ to evaluate Good Cause eviction law
Summary
A resident told the City Council the city should issue a request for qualifications to commission an independent, data-driven evaluation of the recently enacted good-cause eviction ordinance; council members discussed funding and agreed to send the idea to the Planning Committee for further consideration.
Miles Burnett, a resident and the author of citizen RL25-78, asked the Binghamton City Council on April 7 to authorize a request for qualifications (RFQ) to hire an independent evaluator to measure the local effects of the city’s recently passed good-cause eviction ordinance.
Burnett said the study would help “cut through the disinformation and evaluate the law based on facts,” and he described good-cause protections as a means to reduce displacement and stabilize families and neighborhoods. “Good Cause is a good law,” he said, arguing that the ordinance helps prevent “unjustified rent hikes and eviction of tenants who are paying their rent and honoring their leases.”
Burnett told the council that Rochester issued a similar RFQ in December and proposed that Binghamton follow that model. He requested that the council identify performance metrics and consider an RFQ to assess eviction rates, housing stability and rental-market effects locally.
Council members voiced support for the idea in principle but raised funding questions. One council member said the city would need to identify money for the study and suggested checking with City Comptroller Chuck (last name not specified in the record). Another asked that the Planning Committee take the next step of developing metrics and exploring costs; a council member responded that the committee chair is willing to consider the item.
No formal vote to fund or issue an RFQ occurred at the meeting. Council members agreed to refer RL25-78 to the Planning Committee for further work, including: drafting specific evaluation metrics, surveying comparable RFQs from other municipalities and obtaining cost estimates for an RFQ and study.
If the committee proceeds, the next steps described on the record would be drafting the RFQ language, estimating costs and identifying potential grant or municipal funding sources to support the evaluation.
