NY lawmakers urge tenants to complete ‘hardship’ paperwork to delay eviction
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New York City Public Advocate urged tenants and homeowners to fill out their ‘financial hardship disclosure’ forms to delay eviction or foreclosure proceedings until May. John McCarten/City Council
By David Brand
A group of New York lawmakers on Thursday urged tenants and homeowners at risk of eviction and foreclosure to fill out new paperwork intended to delay Housing Court proceedings until at least May.
Fewer than 2,300 New York City tenants have so far completed the “financial hardship declaration” forms, which allow renters to extend an eviction moratorium until May 1, Law360 reported. For those who do not complete the forms, Housing Court proceedings can resume as early as Feb. 26 under state law.
State lawmakers enacted the hardship forms late last year to help tenants and owners to stay in their homes during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 40,000 residential eviction cases have been filed in New York City court since June, according to NYU’s Furman Center.
“These forms deliver real protection for countless renters and homeowners who would otherwise be at risk of losing their homes, adding to the unprecedented hardship that so many are facing,” said State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, who sponsored the legislation to create the forms.
The simple forms are available on the state court system website and require tenants to indicate that they have “lost income or had increased costs during the COVID-19 pandemic” or would be at a “significant health risk” by moving during the pandemic. They do not have to provide additional information or describe the hardship until their proceedings resume.
Lawmakers and advocates at a virtual rally Thursday said the low response rate is partly due to a lack of outreach from the city and state.
“For renters and owners alike, the lack of security or clarity has been debilitating, and doing all we can to keep people in their homes is both morally imperative and economically vital,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
On Wednesday, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards also hosted a forum to educate borough renters and homeowners at risk of foreclosure. “If you're fighting any legal battles or landlords do not go it alone,” Richards said.
But some landlords say the hardship forms only make their life more difficult by buying time for problem tenants.
Ozone Park landlord Vanie Mangal, an emergency room physician’s assistant, said she has struggled for months with two tenants who have refused to pay rent while harassing her and her family. She described the experience in an op-ed for the Eagle last year.
One of the tenants broke into a boiler room and cut off the heat, she said. That tenant finally moved out last year but repeatedly returned to the apartment to run the water and do other things to sabotage the building, Mangal added.
The other tenant has not paid rent in nearly a year, she said.
“It’s just not ending,” she said.
On Thursday, Mangal said she had recently printed out the forms to give to her tenants, a component of the state law.
In the meantime, she has taken a second job distributing COVID vaccines in order to cover the mortgage on the home without rent payments.
“I think the form is completely unfair, 100 percent completely unfair,” she said. “The form lists all these things that they don’t have to prove.”
The hardship declaration form for tenants is available online through justfix.com and evictionfreeny.org. A hotline is available through 311 under “Tenant Helpline” to help renters navigate the specifics of leases, evictions and emergency repairs.
