N.Y. troubled as eviction ban ends
For most of the pandemic, New York state has maintained a strict eviction moratorium, a safeguard that many elected officials and housing advocates say has prevented a cascading crisis in a state with an enormous number of struggling renters.
Even as nearly every other state or federal moratorium ended, New York’s protections were extended time and again. Only in New Mexico has a statewide moratorium been in place for as long.
But New York is now approaching a perilous milestone. On Saturday, state officials are set to let the moratorium expire, making way for a long-feared rush of evictions cases that many worry will seed widespread social upheaval and strain New York’s recovery from the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, about one-quarter of the state’s households occupied by renters spent more than half their income on rent and some utilities. In New York City, where many renters live, the problem is even more acute, with one-third of households in that category.
Renters need aid
The pandemic only made things worse. The state has received more than 291,000 applications for a pandemic rent relief program since last summer, reflecting the vast number of people behind on rent.
That program has nearly run out of money.
“It’s a moment of a lot of uncertainty and precariousness,” said Siya Hegde, policy counsel to the civil action practice at Bronx Defenders, a nonprofit legal services group that has been representing tenants in court.
It is not known how many people may be at risk of evictions after the moratorium ends, but before the pandemic, landlords in New York City filed far more evictions than any other major American city, according to Princeton University’s Eviction Lab.
Nearly 140,000 evictions cases were filed in 2019.
Many politicians and housing groups agree that the moratorium was only meant to be a stopgap during an extraordinary crisis. But its end marks a pivotal moment, setting the stage for a fraught political battle.
If an eviction crisis does occur, it would be a formidable challenge for Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, who has made housing a centerpiece of her agenda as she prepares to run for a full term in November.
She has been pressured by many landlord groups, who have lost substantial amounts of rental income during the pandemic and who have felt the moratorium was too heavy handed and easily abused.
The governor has also faced searing criticism from her party’s left wing for allowing the moratorium to expire without supporting sweeping new eviction protections.
Hochul said this week that she and state lawmakers were discussing next steps.
On Thursday, she and the governors of California, New Jersey and Illinois sent a letter to the federal Treasury Department calling for more rent relief to states with high numbers of renters.
Elected officials and housing advocates worry that the end of the moratorium could reverberate far beyond housing court, leading to an uptick in crime, homelessness, mental health issues, coronavirus outbreaks and more.
A moratorium on commercial evictions and foreclosures also ends on Saturday.
New York also has many landlords with only a few properties who without a steady rental income have faced their own financial pressures.
Landlords also hurting
“It’s time to end the eviction moratorium and put an end to tenants skipping the rent because there are no repercussions for not paying,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords of rent-stabilized units in the city.
It’s not clear what will happen in New York housing courts after the moratorium ends.
After the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s eviction moratorium in August, many parts of the country saw a gradual increase in cases, though levels remained below pre-pandemic levels, according to a December analysis of eviction filings from the Eviction Lab.