New York S 4307: Requires certain public housing authorities to establish an innocent tenant protection act applicable to tenants of public and federally assisted housing

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S04307 Summary:

BILL NOS04307 

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SAME ASNo Same As

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Add §711-a, RPAP L

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Establishes an innocent tenant protection act applicable to tenants of public and federally assisted housing; prevents honest, hardworking family members from being evicted when other family members are involved in illegal acts.

Go to top S04307 Actions:

BILL NOS04307 

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02/04/2025REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

01/07/2026REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Go to topS04307 Committee&nbspVotes:

Go to topS04307 Floor&nbspVotes:

There are no Assembly votes for this bill in this legislative session.

Go to topS04307 Text:

 STATE OF NEW YORK
 ________________________________________________________________________

 4307

 2025-2026 Regular Sessions

 IN SENATE

 February 4, 2025
 ___________

 Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
 printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction and
 Community Development

 AN ACT to amend the real property actions and proceedings law, in
 relation to requiring that certain public housing authorities estab-
 lish an innocent tenant protection act applicable to tenants of public
 and federally assisted housing

 The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
 bly, do enact as follows:

 1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature finds that it is imper-
 2 ative that the forty-nine public housing authorities in the state
 3 provide that any criminal activities that threaten the health, safety or
 4 right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises, engaged in by a tenant of
 5 public or federally assisted housing, and members of the tenants' house-
 6 hold, or any guest or other person under the tenants' control, shall be
 7 cause for termination of tenancy. The legislature further finds that law
 8 abiding tenants are vulnerable to "One-Strike" evictions given the poli-
 9 cy's breadth and the United States Supreme Court's decision in United
 10 States Department of Housing and Urban Development v. Davis. Anyone who
 11 leases public or assisted housing is a potential target of "One-Strike"
 12 evictions. It is of little consequence that a tenant may be law abiding,
 13 despise drug activity or have made their home a drug-free environment.
 14 Any link to guest or family members involved in drug activity on or off
 15 the public housing premises can trigger eviction. Therefore the legisla-
 16 ture finds the adoption of an innocent tenant protection act vital to
 17 law abiding tenants of public and federally assisted housing in New York
 18 state.
 19 § 2. The real property actions and proceedings law is amended by
 20 adding a new section 711-a to read as follows:
 21 § 711-a. Innocent tenant protection. 1. Each public housing authority
 22 and owners of federally assisted housing shall utilize leases which

 EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
 [ ] is old law to be omitted.
 LBD08298-01-5

 S. 4307 2

 1 provide that any criminal activity that threatens the health, safety or
 2 right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises, engaged in by a public
 3 housing or federally assisted housing tenant or any drug related crimi-
 4 nal activity on or off such premises engaged in by a public housing or
 5 federally assisted housing tenant, any member of the tenant's household,
 6 or any guest or other person under the tenant's control, shall be cause
 7 for termination, except that no tenancy of an innocent lessee shall be
 8 terminated pursuant to this section.
 9 2. The burden of proof shall be on the government to establish by a
 10 preponderance of the evidence that such tenant engaged in criminal
 11 activity as described in subdivision one of this section.
 12 3. For purposes of this section the term "innocent lessee" means a
 13 lessee who:
 14 (a) did not know of the criminal activity giving rise to the possible
 15 termination of tenancy; or
 16 (b) upon hearing of the conduct giving rise to the possible termi-
 17 nation of the tenancy, did all that reasonably could be expected under
 18 the circumstances to terminate the criminal activity. For purposes of
 19 this subdivision, ways in which a person may show that such