Tenant lawyers urge state to slow housing court reopening plan
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Queens Housing Court is located on the fourth floor of the Civil Court building in Jamaica. Eagle file photo by David Brand
By David Brand
A coalition of low-income legal service providers have urged the state court system to slow the reopening of crowded housing courts to stop the spread of the coronavirus and prevent mass evictions throughout New York City.
In a letter to Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks, the legal service providers — including Legal Aid, RiseBoro and New York Legal Assistance Group — said reopening New York City housing courts would lead to a flood of new eviction cases and exacerbate a statewide homelessness crisis.
“In the current climate, with unemployment at record levels and with many unable to pay rent for Covid-related reasons, neither housing court judges nor our lawyers will be able to resolve many of these disputes, resulting in evictions, displacement, homelessness, senseless exposure to infection, and more difficulty in containing Covid-19,” the organizations wrote.
The economic crisis resulting from COVID-19 lockdown orders have fueled unemployment and left thousands of New York City residents unable to pay their rent. A complete statewide moratorium on evictions will last until June 20, when landlords can begin filing new commercial and residential eviction cases. Existing proceedings resumed in late-May in cases where both parties had an attorney.
Judges, clerks and chambers’ staff began returning to courthouses today, but proceedings will continue remotely during the first phase of the reopening plan. Tenants without attorneys or access to the internet will be forced to come to the court buildings, however.
Housing Courts — like the courtrooms located on the fourth-floor of the Queens Civil Court building — are routinely packed with tenants sharing space on floors and benches or crowding into small courtroom galleries, where they await a brief appearance before a judge.
The organizations serving low-income tenants say new court filings will once again pack the courts, “violating the new norms for social distancing, isolation, and quarantines.”
“These outcomes, and the prospect of eviction of thousands of individuals and families, do not represent the ideals of a fair and just court system,” they added.
Office of Court Administration spokesperson Lucian Chalfen said the court system has carefully considered the reopening plan and is taking precautions to limit in-person interactions.
“The first phase of resuming in-person operations of courts in New York City has been a result of both our experience with court buildings upstate and a careful, measured, deliberative process that has included court managers, unions, bar groups and anyone else who has a stake in how our courts will move forward,” Chalfen said.
“Our planned resumption of in-person operations is going to be very slow with very few people back in the building at this phase,” he added.
