Legislature OKs extension of eviction moratorium until Jan. 15

ALBANY — The State Legislature on Wednesday passed a bill to extend New York’s moratorium on evictions until Jan. 15, citing the surge in COVID-19 cases, a U.S. Supreme Court decision and the slow rollout of an aid program for tenants and landlords.

The State Senate approved the extension by a 38-19 vote. The Assembly passed it 80-60 later Wednesday night.

The moratorium, already in place for 17 months, technically expired midnight Tuesday. But with the state having distributed a pittance of the $2.4 billion in federal aid it received for rental assistance, Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders agreed to hold an extraordinary session to push the end of the moratorium into next year.

They also cited Supreme Court actions effectively ending a federal eviction moratorium and declaring part of the state law illegal.

"In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling to strike down the federal eviction moratorium, the Senate is taking action to adjust and extend the state's eviction moratorium to ensure that thousands of New Yorkers are protected from losing their homes and at the same time helping small landlords," Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said.

The bill’s primary intention is to prevent tenants who lost their jobs or experienced financial hardship because of the pandemic and couldn’t pay rent to avoid losing their residence. Landlords would be compensated for the missing rent with federal funds.

Besides changing the end date, the eviction bill also extended the ban for commercial tenants and foreclosures, created a mechanism for landlords to challenge a tenant’s hardship declaration and earmarked state money to supplement the federal funds.

The provision allowing landlords to challenge hardship declarations is meant to address a portion of the law the Supreme Court declared illegal. And it allows landlords to start eviction proceedings if a tenant has "inflicted substantial damage" to a property.

"Today, as COVID-19 continues to be a threat to the health and well-being of New Yorkers throughout the state, we are taking decisive, comprehensive steps to extend and strengthen the pillars of our legislative strategy to keep all New Yorkers safe," said State Sen. Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan), chairman of the Senate Housing Committee.

When lawmakers approved the initial moratorium, they didn’t expect it would be needed for this long because New York was receiving $2.4 billion to compensate landlords.

But under former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, New York had distributed just 10% of the money as of mid-August. Another $600 million in applications has been preapproved but not distributed yet.

Hochul took over as governor Aug. 24, following Cuomo’s resignation, and promised to speed up checks getting out the door.

Republicans — and landlords — argued the legislation was unnecessary.

They said landlords can’t continue to absorb financial losses and the answer is to quickly release all the federal aid. They said fears of a rush of evictions weren’t founded because courts are already backlogged because of the pandemic. They also said many tenants had returned to work.

Finally, they said the length of the extension was overkill if the state, as Hochul vows, rapidly increases aid distribution.

"When I heard the majority wanted to extend the moratorium, I figured it would be until the end of October, mid-November max," said State Sen. Phil Boyle (R-Bay Shore) during the Senate debate. "I was shocked to hear it was January."

"The emergency is over," Boyle continued. "Some landlords in New York state think they are never going to get rent again … This thing could go on and on and on."

"Nobody wants to evict people. But let’s be proactive," said State Sen. Pamela Helming (R-Canandaigua), adding that meant distributing the aid and further opening up courts.

State Sen. Fred Akshar (R-Binghamton) said many tenants who haven’t applied for funds are using the ban on evictions to avoid paying anything.

"The fact is there are thousands and thousands of tenants who are too lazy to fill out the paperwork and participate in the program," he said. "Because there is no incentive."