Gov. Kathy Hochul Extends Eviction Freeze until Jan. 15

By Yehudit Garmaise

     Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill Thursday to extend the New York’s prevention of landlords from evicting tenants to Jan. 15.

     One day after the state’s eviction moratorium expired Aug. 31, the Legislature voted overwhelmingly to extend the moratorium for four and half more months: 18 months after landlords were first disallowed from evicting tenants for failing to pay their rent, due to pandemic hardship.

      Yesterday, the New York legislators rushed back into a special session to vote overwhelmingly for an eviction moratorium, once mandated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that on Aug. 26, the US Supreme Court, in a 6 to 3 vote, decided that the CDC did not have the legal authority to continue its ongoing efforts to prevent landlords from evicting tenants who cannot pay their rent.

     Gov. Hochul called the Supreme Court’s decision “heartless” and said the vote of the New York legislature “will alleviate the crisis facing vulnerable New Yorkers who are suffering through no fault of their own.”

   The national unemployment rate, however, has now dropped to a very low 5.4%: showing that the vast majority of Americans have returned to work: or could return to work, if they so chose.

     In addition, the US economy added 943,000 jobs in July, the Congressional Research Service reported.

     In April 2020, a month after the eviction ban was first put into place, the unemployment rate reached 14.8%, which was the highest rate that has been observed since employment began collecting employment data in 1948.

     Landlords, who argued in the Supreme Court on Aug. 26 that, they have been losing $18 billion a month from the eviction moratorium, are wondering why lawmakers are not concerned about them.

      In fact, while continuing to receive no rent, landlords were mandated to continue to provide maintenance services like fumigation and other safety provisions to tenants.

     Landlords are now able to challenge tenants’ hardship claims in the courts, although that will be difficult and expensive.

    This week, however, New York Republicans continued to question the fairness of the moratorium extension to Jan. 15. 

     “I believe it is about undermining property owner’s rights,” State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt.