New York State Eviction Moratorium Could Extend Through October
By Anna Staropoli August 6, 2021 3:12 pm
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New York Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou and State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi are pushing to extend the eviction moratorium until Oct. 31, the lawmakers announced Friday.
Niou and Biaggi, both Democrats, advocated for the extension with the hope of mitigating homelessness and counteracting failed relief efforts. The proposed bill would extend the state’s protections of tenants, homeowners, and landlords affected by the pandemic, currently set to expire on Aug. 31, The Associated Press first reported.
The push comes days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended the federal ban on evictions until Oct. 3 for counties nationwide with significant levels of COVID-19 transmission. The Biden administration previously pushed the end of the federal moratorium until July 31, in what was supposed to be the final extension.
Despite outcries from landlords predicting the ban would cause an affordable housing crisis down the road, Biaggi and Niou believe an extension is necessary to supplant ineffective pandemic aid attempts that had the potential — and, thus, missed the opportunity — to provide a more long-term solution than pushing back rent.
“We cannot let hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers risk homelessness due to the negligence of our own government,” Biaggi said in a statement. “The executive has failed New Yorkers, and the legislature must reconvene to deliver for the people that we were elected to serve.”
She cited the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) as a too-slow fix for problems spiraling out of control. The ERAP got $2.35 billion in federal funds, plus another $100 million in state money, funneled into it to offer up to three months of prospective assistance and up to a year’s worth of help to pay back rent. Yet, of the 160,000 ERAP applicants, only 55 households have received assistance thus far.
In fact, New York was the last state to release new rental relief aid this year, according to the AP, and such a lack of urgency has counteracted the effectiveness of aid efforts. The inefficiency of relief attempts, coupled with the rising delta variant, has drawn out the side effects of COVID-19’s economic grasp, leaving the moratorium as a catch-all for buying time.
“I can’t imagine anything worse for our renters or our economy than evicting thousands of families just as the pandemic surges back with deadly new variants,” Niou said in a statement. “ERAP has failed to do what it was empowered to do: issue federal aid to struggling renters without delay. That isn’t the fault of renters, but it is renters who will pay the price unless we act now to protect those whose only crime was trusting in the promises of our government at a time of crisis.”
The moratorium would allow for both residential and commercial tenants to continue receiving eviction relief upon submitting forms proving pandemic-related hardships. The latest moratorium would likewise offer relief from foreclosure and tax lien sales, as well as funding for small businesses.
State Sen. John Liu and Assemblymember Emily Gallagher have also backed the new moratorium.
Anna Staropoli can be reached at astaropoli@commercialobserver.com.
