The New York legislature is expected to pass one of the most comprehensive anti-eviction laws in the country on Monday, as the state leads to high unemployment levels and a pandemic that has taken 37,000 lives nationwide.
Tenants and groups for advocates have been afraid for months of the end of the year of banning evictions that kept people in their homes, despite their inability to pay rent. Under the new measure, landlords would be prohibited from evicting most tenants for at least another 60 days.
A tenant who is in danger of being kicked out of a home can submit a document containing financial hardship related to the coronavirus to delay an eviction.
The legislation will also make it more difficult for banks to enforce smaller landlords who themselves are struggling to pay bills. But advocacy groups for landlords have said the bill could leave a lot to be desired.
The legislature convenes an unusual special session between Christmas and New Year to pass the measure, and acts quickly because the governor’s executive order, which bans many evictions, expires on 31 December.
Lawmakers expect Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo shall draw the criterion that will take effect immediately. Cuomo’s office had no immediate comment on the legislation.
The state of emergency comes after President Trump signed a $ 900 billion emergency relief package on Sunday, which includes $ 1.3 billion in rent relief for New Yorkers – and two days after unemployment benefits for millions of Americans expired. State and federal laws address the dire financial situation facing millions of Americans, nine months into the pandemic.
In New York State, eviction proceedings continued, but landlords were largely barred from physically removing tenants from their homes. Evictions resumed in October, especially for tenants who could not convince judges that their financial hardship was related to the coronavirus. Tenants whose affairs revolved around disputes other than the non-payment of rent may also be evicted.
At the end of November, there were 38 requests for eviction orders in New York City, according to a recent analysis by the New York University Furman Center. Each of the cases began before the pandemic and the most involved properties in central Brooklyn.
Since October, Zellnor Myrie, a state senator representing central Brooklyn, has issued at least three eviction orders in his district. The most recent warrant was issued for a tenant who could not pay rent.
“So, even with the constellation of moratoriums, there are still landlords chasing tenants,” he said. Myrie, a sponsor of the legislation, said.
During the pandemic, Winsome Pendergrass (63), a tenant and activist from the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn, lost her main source of income providing home care. Three months behind in rent, she said the legislation would bring her relief.
“I myself suffer from high blood pressure and do not want to run there and overload myself in the pandemic, because the money I come up with is just to pay the rent,” she said.
Rental lawyers and advocacy groups have said the state law prevents landlords from throwing thousands of financially trapped tenants on the streets in the winter because the number of virus cases continues to rise.
“It’s going to save a lot of people’s homes,” said Ellen Davidson, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society. “It’s going to save lives.”
But landlords argue that the bill exceeds too much, allowing tenants to avoid eviction by merely indicating financial hardship rather than proving it.
“With no evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected their income, and no income restriction to qualify for eviction protection, a tenant whose household income rose from half a million dollars to $ 250,000 would qualify. for eviction protection by declaring that they The income is ‘significantly reduced’, ”says Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, a landlord group.
The new state law will allow evictions to continue in cases where judges find tenants are constantly creating a nuisance to neighbors, such as playing loud music at 3 a.m. or creating dangerous conditions.
Under the new legislation, a tenant can submit a written declaration to a landlord indicating that lost income or increased costs are due to the pandemic, or that the move during the pandemic will pose a ‘significant health risk’. The landlord may not commence eviction proceedings until at least May 1st.
For eviction cases already being worked out by the courts, the law will stop the proceedings for at least 60 days.
Since March, the governor, state courts and the legislature have introduced a series of sometimes overlapping measures to prevent evictions during a crisis that eliminated millions of jobs and made it difficult for many tenants to rent. pay. The inability of tenants to pay their landlords, in turn, has made it difficult for some homeowners to pay their own bills.
But the ever-changing state rules and court counseling have caused great confusion among tenants who want to understand the legal murder. Rental lawyers also expressed their displeasure at how some judges of the housing court interpret the law.
More than anywhere else, courts in the Albany region and in Rochester were ‘remarkably unsympathetic to tenants’ situations,’ she said. Davidson said.
The new law is by no means a panacea. Tenants will still owe rent that they did not pay once the moratorium is ended.
The $ 1.3 billion relief approved by the federal government would help, Ms. Davidson said, but that would not be enough to cover the rents’ rent.
Michael McKee, treasurer of Tenants PAC, a tenant rights group, praised the law as ‘very close’ to everything his organization wanted, but also warned that ‘when it is all lifted, people will owe thousands and thousands of backs’ rent they can not pay. ”