Pols vote to extend eviction moratorium
ALBANY — New York lawmakers approved legislation Monday extending the state’s COVID eviction moratorium through the end of August.
The extension will cover residential and commercial tenants facing financial trouble due to the pandemic, and gives the state time to work out the details of a rent relief program baked into this year’s budget using $2.3 billion in federal emergency funding.
The measure continues a temporary stop on evictions and some foreclosures for tenants and landlords who can attest that financial hardship due to the pandemic has prevented them from paying rent or mortgage.
“This new extension will continue to ensure that New York tenants, homeowners, business owners and small landlords will not have to fear losing their homes or businesses,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said.
“This pandemic has been devastating on so many levels, and this legislation will help give our residents and businesses time to get back on their feet.”
Along with banning evictions, the bill, sponsored by Sen. Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan, Brooklyn) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx), similarly bars foreclosures and tax lien sales for property owners facing financial troubles, including for smaller residential landlords renting out 10 or fewer units.
“While we can see the light at the end of the tunnel of the global health crisis of the last year, the economic impacts on our families and small businesses have not diminished,” said Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx).
“Extending these moratoriums will give people the time they need to recover financially, keep families in their homes, and keep businesses’ doors open.”
Republicans pushed back on the bill, asking repeatedly during floor debates why Dems are adamant about extending the deadline through August instead of the end of June, which is when the current federal guideline ends.
“Today’s vote to extend a blanket moratorium on evictions is harmful to both landlords and tenants. The extension passed today severely limits the ability of already-struggling small-property owners to recover from the economic damage the COVID-19 pandemic has caused,” said Assembly Minority Leader William Barclay (R-Oswego).
Landlord groups slammed the measure as unnecessary and called on elected officials to get the federally funded rent relief program off the ground.
“This is nothing more than political theater, government overreach and unnecessary duplication,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which represents 25,000 landlords.
“We need our state lawmakers to act with the same lightning speed as they do with their political gamesmanship to get these federal rent relief funds into the hands of financially desperate renters and landlords to address rent arrears.”
Robert Mujica, Gov. Cuomo’s top budget official, said earlier in the day that the distribution of the funds will begin shortly.