Queens Housing Court trials will resume in September
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Queens Housing Court is located on the fourth floor of the Civil Court building in Jamaica. Eagle file phoot by David Brand
By David Brand
Some Housing Court trials will resume in Queens in early September, according to a memo from New York City’s top Civil Court judge Wednesday.
The in-person trials on pending matters will resume “on or about” Sept. 8, said Hon. Anthony Cannataro, the citywide administrative judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York. Manhattan Housing court will also restart in-person trials that day.
“The Supervising Judges will select cases for trial, prioritizing, for the time being, two-attorney matters that were placed on the trial calendar before March 16, 2020, and which cannot be resolved virtually,” Cannataro said.
The “limited resumption of in-person” trials “has become necessary,” he added, as filings mount.
Brooklyn Housing Court resumed some trials on July 27, while Staten Island Housing COurt is set to restart on Aug. 10.
Queens Housing Court Supervising Judge John Lansden has said the courts will move “cautiously” when it comes to eviction matters.
“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 told the Eagle last month.
Tenants’ attorneys say the resumption of trials will only result in a surge of evictions, which will fuel New York City’s already deep homelessness crisis.
The city has identified 14,000 households at risk of becoming homeless as a result of eviction cases that were adjudicated prior to the March 16 moratorium on evictions.
“It would really be a crisis on many fronts if they lost their homes,” said Judith Goldiner, the top attorney in Legal Aid’s Civil Law Reform Unit, Tuesday. “I’m really worried. And I don’t know what the court is going to do.”
Lawyers for New York City landlords have called on the court system to resume eviction proceedings, including trials, as they seek revenue from their properties.
They have also urged the state to enact subsidies for landlords and tenants financially impacted by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Landlord groups have praised the state’s COVID Rent Relief Program, which will direct payments to property owners for some low- and middle-income tenants who have not been able to make their rent in recent months.
“From the beginning, when the pandemic began to have an unprecedented financial impact on both building owners and their tenants, we called on our local elected officials to enact a rental subsidy program to aid struggling tenants rather than irrational proposals such as canceling rent completely,” said Rent Stabilization Association President Joseph Strasburg.
“Although it took some time for the COVID Rent Relief Program to be implemented, it is a major step in the right direction for RSA members and all building owners whose tenants struggled to meet their rent for months, which ultimately had a domino effect on property owners’ ability to pay their property taxes and water bills.”
