State moves to extend eviction protections

The Senate and Assembly are considering two bills to offer better protection to tenants and landlords. Photo by Matt Wade via Wikimedia Commons

By Rachel Vick

At the request of Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York’s State Legislature reconvened Wednesday for a special session to find a solution to extend and amend the eviction moratorium, which was recently struck down in court.

The legislators at the extraordinary session began the work to extend the eviction moratorium, expand rental assistance access and eligibility.

“Recently the Supreme Court rendered a heartless decision that blocked the Biden administration's eviction plan,” Hochul said. “Under my watch, here in the State of New York we are not going to exacerbate what is already a crisis... we are not going to abandon our neighbors in need, especially since the State of New York failed in its responsibility to get the money that was allocated by Congress out to the people in need earlier this summer."

The two bills —  S50001 and S50002 in Senate and A40001 and A40002 in the Assembly —  were considered to supplement the COVID-19 protections, including extending the state’s moratorium on evictions through Jan. 15, 2022. The Tenant Safe Harbor Act would also be extended through the bills.

Additions to the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which has been distributed at a slow pace, include extending eligibility to residents of counties that opted out of the program.

Landlord protections include a nuisance clause that would allow them to begin the eviction proceedings if a tenant is a nuisance or has inflicted substantial damage to a property, and establish a process for landlords and banks to challenge Hardship Declaration form filings to avoid foreclosure.

The hardship declaration was at the center of the case against both the state and federal government’s eviction pauses. Landlords successfully argued that they were denied due process as a result of the declarations, which required no verification on behalf of tenants.

Courts would be authorized to access a portion of the CERAP application to determine whether or not to stay an eviction proceeding, and an additional $25 million would be appropriated to fund legal services for tenants facing evictions.

Lawmakers also considered an amendment to the state’s Public Meetings law to allow government bodies to meet virtually, instead of in-person, until Jan. 15 — an extension requested by Queens Community Boards, among others.

“In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling to strike down the federal eviction moratorium, the Senate Majority is taking action to adjust and extend the state's eviction moratorium to ensure that thousands of New Yorkers are protected from losing their homes and at the same time helping small landlords," Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said. "The Senate Democratic Majority will continue to fight to keep people in their homes and ensure that every individual who qualifies for these protections receives them. New York State's government must work effectively to address the needs of New Yorkers.”

Though lawmakers are expecting the measures to pass, a group of Republicans from both chambers, including Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt held a press conference earlier in the day to decry the “repetitive efforts to ‘cancel rent’ forever” and demand the release of the delayed relief.

President of the Rent Stabilization Association Joseph Strasburg said that one of his biggest concerns remained whether or not the new language would reflect an improvement in a landlord’s ability to challenge a tenant's financial situations.

“Our position is, we understand that there are those tenants who have actually been impacted by COVID, and they should get protection and support the owner for being able to access the rent relief money so that the rent can be paid, but the inability of an owner to challenge them [is a problem],” he said. “We will have to see the final product and have our attorneys at that point analyze it, to determine whether in fact, they have complied with the [federal] Supreme Court's decision, or decided to ignore it.”

Regardless which side of the aisle they stand on, or whether landlord or tenant, everyone involved in the eviction discussion was hoping for the same thing: the release of rent relief.

“We don't want to [go to court], we want to exert all our energy and time to make sure that the money that's available to be to be sent out is [sent out],” Strasburg added. “Remove the obstacles and get the money into the hands of the landlord so that tenants don't have to be concerned about the potential of being evicted sometime in the future.”

As of print time, the legislature was still in session.

Additional reporting by Jacob Kaye.