{"id":96,"date":"2025-12-25T17:51:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T17:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/?p=96"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:57:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:57:12","slug":"the-west-side-spirit-just-paws-eviction-bill-seeks-end-to-no-pets-housing-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/2025\/12\/25\/the-west-side-spirit-just-paws-eviction-bill-seeks-end-to-no-pets-housing-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"The West Side Spirit – \u2018Just Paws Eviction\u2019 Bill Seeks End to No-Pets Housing Policies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Co-sponsored by Council Members Christopher Marte and Lynn Schulman, the legislation would protect people and pets from landlord\u2019s anti-furball animus.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Brian Berger<\/mark><\/p>\n

Christopher Marte may not have won the race for City Council speaker, but he\u2019s not lifting a hind leg on his constituents, or the people and pets of greater Gotham. To the contrary, for along with his fellow footpad-loving Council member, Lynn Schulman of Queens, the problem-solving downtown solon\u2014whose public-facing 26 for 26 speaker platform received little of the attention it deserved\u2014has introduced the cheekily named \u201cJust Paws Eviction\u201d bill.<\/p>\n

Why cheekily? Because unless your pet is a reptile, it likely has whiskers, and the name plays off the \u201cGood Cause Eviction\u201d law New York State enacted in 2024. While that legislation had both fierce\u2014not to say feral\u2014supporters (\u201cnonprofit advocates\u201d and progressive politicians) and foes (landlords both large and small), the \u201cJust Paws Eviction\u201d proposals are unlikely to be so controversial.<\/p>\n

According to its co-sponsors, the two-bill effort intends to eliminate blanket no-pet clauses in both subsidized and unsubsidized rental housing across New York City.<\/p>\n

This was done, they say, in response to a growing crisis faced in the city\u2019s overcrowded and under-resourced animal shelters. One of the reasons pets are \u201csurrendered\u201d\u2014meaning given up by their owners\u2014is housing instability, with tenants being forced to abandon their beloved pets when moving. In other instances, tenants are prevented from adopting pets due to lease restrictions that ban animals outright.<\/p>\n

At first and second fur-covered glances, this seems curious. While loud and sometimes ill-trained, snappy dogs can be an annoyance or an outright menace, good dogs are a delight to be around, even if they don\u2019t do much for the ecosystem besides boosting the local pet-care economy\u2014which is itself important.<\/p>\n

Cats, on the other hand, beyond their often inscrutable and willful ways, can be vital companions not just in the interspecies quest for love but also as pest killers extraordinaire. No one who has ever shopped for glue traps to line the baseboards of their apartment after shrieking at the sight of this or that mouse or cockroach will tell you different, even if circumstances may presently keep them catless.<\/p>\n

By removing blanket pet bans, the \u201cJust Paws Eviction\u201d bill backers believe the city can obviate the strain on its shelters and encourage responsible pet ownership, while also \u201cmaintaining existing legal remedies when pets cause real harm or disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there is a fight over the \u201cJust Paws Eviction\u201d proposal, it will likely be over the definition and efficacy of these \u201cexisting legal remedies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recent horrific news that a 1-year-old child had been attacked by a pit bull near Broadway and East 13th Street underscores the truth about some dogs. Do an internet search for \u201cdog attack\u201d or \u201cdog attacks child\u201d in nearly any city and state and even the most placid, tail-wagging, face-licking, ball-fetching snugglebunny companion starts to look a little like Cerberus.<\/p>\n

And while this is an extreme, if not uncommon, example of the terror dogs can pose, any parent whose children\u2014or any person, period who has been snapped at, chased, frightened by a dog whose idiot owner doesn\u2019t know how to use a leash, knows the truth: that, sadly, there are many valid reasons for staying away from dogs and dog owners. Texting while Fido takes up the entire sidewalk on a retractable (and not lawful in NYC) leash is classic oblivious dog owner behavior, likewise the clowns who think leash laws don\u2019t apply to them, meanwhile Cujo just jumped onto your kid\u2019s stroller.<\/p>\n

The day the ASCPA or NYPD (not just the Parks Deparment) starts arresting people\u2014and DAs start prosecuting\u2014for dog and dog owner misdeeds is the day these people start worrying about dog lease restrictions.<\/p>\n

Talk around the dogbowl of empathetic pooch-loving politics is a bit different, of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when apartment hunting is already one of the most stressful experiences New Yorkers face, tenants should not be forced to choose between stable housing and keeping a companion animal,\u201d said Council Member Christopher Marte. \u201cBlanket no-pet clauses make an already brutal housing market even more restrictive, while pushing more animals into overcrowded shelters. The Just Paws Eviction package is about basic fairness, housing stability, and recognizing that pets are part of our families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor so many New Yorkers, pets aren\u2019t just animals\u2014 they\u2019re family,\u201d said Council Member Lynn Schulman. \u201cNo one should be forced to give up a beloved companion just to keep a roof over their head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Michelle Villagomez, senior director of municipal affairs for the ASPCA, \u201cRemoving barriers to pets in housing will help keep pets in loving homes and out of shelters, and we urge the City Council to prioritize legislation to make pet-friendly housing more accessible for New Yorkers so families can stay together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Link to story: https:\/\/www.westsidespirit.com\/news\/just-paws-eviction-bill-seeks-end-to-no-pets-housing-policies-KF5403268<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Co-sponsored by Council Members Christopher Marte and Lynn Schulman, the legislation would protect people and pets from landlord\u2019s anti-furball animus.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Brian Berger<\/p>\n

Christopher Marte may not have won the race for City Council speaker, but he\u2019s not lifting a hind leg on his constituents, or the people and pets of greater Gotham.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

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