Prevent an eviction crisis
What will happen when New York’s moratorium on evictions ends in January? Housing advocates fear a wave of evictions that could push hundreds of Capital Region residents from their homes.
Data suggests the fear is well founded. As the Times Union reported recently, commercial and residential landlords in Saratoga, Schenectady, Albany and Rensselaer counties have filed more than 4,000 eviction cases from the start of the COVID -19 pandemic in March 2020.
While it isn’t clear how many cases are still pending, there’s little doubt that many tenants have struggled to pay rent during the pandemic. The impact of that is wide ranging.
For renters, the threat of eviction is a source of stress and fear. What, after all, could be more traumatic for a family than losing a home? Children may face the prospect of changing schools, while parents may worry about having nowhere else to go.
For landlords, especially those with only one or two properties, unpaid rent often means financial hardships
— including struggles to pay property taxes or mortgages. It may also force the delay of repairs and maintenance.
Then there’s a destabilizing cost to neighborhoods and entire communities when tenants are forced to move or buildings deteriorate. Indeed, eviction numbers have been highest in poorer neighborhoods, such as Albany’s West Hill, already struggling against decay and disinvestment.
All this is why it is so important for New York to rapidly distribute the $2.6 billion in federal aid for tenants who have fallen behind on the rent during the pandemic. Getting that money to landlords is key to curbing the crisis that housing advocates fear.
Unfortunately, New York was initially slow to distribute the money, with burdensome paperwork and other administrative delays blamed for the sluggish pace. The state, though, has changed how it considers applications, and now more than $1.8 billion has been either paid or promised, according to The Wall Street Journal. Additional federal funding could soon be coming, reallocated from states that haven’t spent it.
That’s good news for New York renters. A key now is ensuring that renters and landlords, who must participate together in the application process, understand the money is available and how to access it. Politicians grandstanding against the moratorium should instead be getting the word out.
Here’s more good news: The number of eviction cases filed by Capital Region landlords during the pandemic is actually down sharply from before the pandemic in 2019, suggesting the moratorium and anti-poverty measures may have worked to reduce the threat faced by many renters.
Still, housing advocates caution that the numbers may understate the severity of the problem, and it’s clear more work needs to be done ahead of the January deadline.
After all, the Capital Region doesn’t need more homeless families or landlords who can’t afford upkeep. The pandemic shouldn’t be a reason for either.