Housing Court to proceed 'cautiously' during COVID crisis, says top Queens judge
/
Hon. Judge Lansden is supervising judge in Queen County Housing Court. Eagle file photos by Ryan Thompson and David Brand
By David Brand
The top judge in Queens Housing Court says landlord-tenant disputes will proceed slowly as advocates and elected officials predict a deepening homelessness crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A statewide eviction moratorium ends Aug. 5 for tenants whose cases began before the coronavirus hit New York and halted many court functions. Tens of thousands of other tenants who have been unable to pay their rent due to the COVID-19 economic fallout are now subject to monetary judgements. “We are about to go over a cliff here in this city, in terms of people potentially losing their housing and we have to stop it,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio on July 21.
Queens Housing Court Supervising Judge John Lansden said it was too early to assess de Blasio’s warning, however.
“I’m not yet able to say whether there will be an eviction cliff or there won’t be,” he said.
Evictions proceedings and monetary judgments for tenants who owe back rent will not happen overnight, he added.
“Everything is a process and takes time, and all the directives and administrative order show that we’re going to proceed cautiously and responsibly,” Lansden said.
Since mid-March, when the devastating impact of the COVID-19 outbreak became apparent in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has issued a series of stopgap orders halting evictions. The state has also established a modest rent relief program for low- to middle-income tenants affected by COVID-19 and enacted the Tenants Safe Harbor Act, designed to help tenants stave off eviction if they prove they have been financially impacted by the pandemic.
Advocates and elected officials have called for stronger measures, like cancelling rent, to prevent homelessness and other damaging financial consequences among tenants affected by COVID-19. The state’s piecemeal actions have also fueled confusion among tenants and landlords, as well as attorneys and the marshals tasked with executing evictions.
Lansden acknowledged that shifting information from the state has complicated the resumption of Housing Court proceedings for all parties.
“The uncertainty of everything is a reason for concern,” he said. “Once we know what is going to happen, whether or not financial assistance will be coming, then it will be a time for our leaders to address the situation.”
The typically bustling Queens Housing Court, a row of courtrooms along a crammed corridor on the fourth floor of the Civil Court building in Jamaica, has been nearly empty since the state shut down in-person operations in mid-March. In recent weeks, some visitors have begun to return to the building as some in-person proceedings resume. Court officials say fewer than 200 people have been visiting the building each day for all types of civil issues. Before COVID, more than 200 people came to Civil Court each day just to respond to jury summonses.
Nevertheless, the renewed activity is a portent of a crisis to come, say tenant advocates.
New York City is already in the midst of an historic, years-long homelessness crisis and the economic fall out of the coronavirus is about to make it even worse, said Sateesh Nori, the top attorney in Legal Aid’s Queens Housing Court office. A few thousand people in holdover proceedings before March face the very real threat of eviction in the coming weeks, Nori said.
“We are certainly headed for an eviction cliff because people owe rent and there is no assistance that is forthcoming that is sufficient to meet their needs,” he said.
Marshals can begin executing eviction warrants two weeks after the state eviction moratorium ends Aug. 5, he said.
Thousands of other tenants who have been unable to pay their rent due to the COVID-19 economic consequences, like job loss, are now subject to monetary judgements, which could eviscerate their credit and exacerbate existing financial woes. A July 8 report by Bloomberg finds that roughly one-quarter of New York City tenants have not paid rent since March.
“The question is what role is Housing Court going to play?” he said. “Is it going to push people over the edge or is it going to give people a longer runway to work it out?”
Landlord attorney Nativ Winiarsky also said the state is facing financial and housing crises — and landlords will topple over the cliff, too.
“We are all part of the same mutual symbiotic relationship and it is high time our politicians take note of that,” said Winiarsky, of the firm Kucker Marino Winiarsky & Bittens LLP.
“To simply grant repose to tenants and forgive rent or make it exceedingly difficult for landlords to collect rent or construct yet another roadblock for landlords in their constitutional right to enforce a contract will only serve to cause landlords to face a similar cliff when it comes to paying mortgages and real estate taxes,” he continued.
Lawmakers and advocates who focus exclusively on the plight of tenants ignore the importance of real estate taxes and mortgage payments to the overall economy, he said. He recommended solutions that benefit both tenants and landlords, such as vouchers.
“To the extent politicians are looking for short-sighted answers in order to score political points, it will only work to the ultimate detriment of all the citizens of this city,” Winiarsky said. “We need to think along the entire political spectrum and find a balance between assisting those in need and ensuring that this city is allowed to continue to function in the manner we have come to expect and deserve.”
