New York Bans Most Evictions as Tenants Struggle
to Pay Rent
The Legislature, addressing hardship caused by the
pandemic, convened an unusual special session between Christmas and New Year’s
to pass the measure.
The existing eviction ban in New York is set to expire
on Dec. 31.
By Dana
Rubinstein
Dec. 28, 2020
The New
York Legislature on Monday overwhelmingly passed one of the most comprehensive
anti-eviction laws in the nation, as the state contends with high levels of
unemployment caused by a pandemic that has taken more than 330,000 lives
nationwide.
Tenants and
advocacy groups have been dreading the end-of-year expiration of eviction bans
that have kept people in their homes even as they fell months behind in their
rent. Under the new measure, landlords will be barred from evicting most
tenants for at least another 60 days in almost all cases.
The bill
would not only block landlords from evicting most tenants but would also
protect some small landlords from foreclosure and automatically renew tax
exemptions for homeowners who are elderly or disabled.
The
Legislature convened an unusual special session between Christmas and New
Year’s to pass the measure, acting quickly because the governor’s executive
order barring many evictions was slated to expire on Dec. 31. The legislators’
urgency reflected a national concern over the fate of millions of people
without jobs and access to job opportunities, as the pandemic continues to eat
away at the economy.
Gov. Andrew
M. Cuomo wasted no time in signing the bill, which goes into effect
immediately.
The passage
of the bill comes as a relief for renters like Vincia Barber, a 40-year old
tenant in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, who said she lost her job as a nanny and
hasn’t paid rent in months.
“This is
the best thing they could do for us today,” said Ms. Barber, who added that two
of her relatives had died of the coronavirus.
Once the
bill becomes law in New York, tenants like Ms. Barber can protect their homes
by submitting a document stating financial hardship related to the coronavirus.
As many as 1.2 million New York households are currently at risk of being
removed from their homes, according to a database maintained by Stout, a
consulting firm.
For
eviction cases that are already working their way through the courts, the law
will halt proceedings for at least 60 days. Landlords would not be allowed to
begin new eviction proceedings until at least May 1.
Some
landlords resisted the measure, arguing that the law didn’t adequately
distinguish between tenants with resources and those without. They said the new
law paid too little heed to property owners who are themselves grappling with
diminished financial resources, as tenants fall behind on rent and ground-floor
retail tenants go out of business.
The
legislation attempts to address those concerns by making it harder for banks to
foreclose on smaller landlords who are themselves struggling to pay bills.
The state’s
emergency action comes after President Trump signed on Sunday a $900 billion
relief package, which included $1.3 billion in rental relief for New Yorkers
and extended a federal eviction moratorium — and two days after unemployment
benefits expired for millions of Americans. The state and federal legislation
speak to the precarious financial situation facing millions of Americans, nine
months into the pandemic.
Nationally,
an estimated 7 million to 14 million households are at risk for eviction,
according to Stout’s database. They are thought to be short between $11 billon
and $20 billion in rent.
Other
states have taken steps to delay evictions as well. Gov. Ned Lamont of
Connecticut has extended that state’s ban until Feb. 9. Last week, Gov. Jay
Inslee of Washington extended an eviction moratorium until March 31.
New York
and the other states acted to plug holes in a federal moratorium that housing
advocates say does not do enough to protect tenants from losing their homes.
The requirements to qualify for eviction protection are considered onerous, and
several states took their own action.
The New
York Senate approved the new measure 40 to 21 on Monday, while the State
Assembly voted 99 to 47.
What makes
New York’s new law exceptional is its reach: It eases the process for tenants
and small landlords to claim financial hardships and eliminates hurdles for
disabled and older homeowners to renew tax exemptions.
In New York
State, even under Mr. Cuomo’s order, eviction proceedings have continued, but
landlords have largely been barred from physically removing tenants from their
homes. A smattering of evictions resumed in October, particularly for those
tenants who were unable to convince judges that their financial hardships were
related to the coronavirus.
As of late
November, there have been 38 requests for eviction warrants in New York City,
according to a recent analysis by the New York University Furman Center. Every
one of those cases began before the pandemic and most involved properties in
central Brooklyn.
Since
October, Zellnor Myrie, a state senator representing central Brooklyn, has had
at least three eviction warrants issued in his district. The most recent
warrant was issued for a tenant who was unable to pay rent.
“So even
with the constellation of moratoria, there have still been landlords going
after tenants,” said Mr. Myrie, a sponsor of the legislation.
As of
November, 8 percent of New York State residents were unemployed, more than
twice as many as this time last year. State labor department figures indicate
that the unemployment rate in New York City is significantly higher. Small
businesses and their employees in Manhattan’s core have been especially hard
hit, as commuters have all but vanished.
Winsome
Pendergrass, 63, a tenant and activist from the Brownsville neighborhood of
Brooklyn, lost her main source of income providing in-home care. Three months
behind in rent, she said the legislation will bring her some relief.
“I myself
suffer from high blood pressure and I don’t want to be running out there and
overexert myself in the pandemic, because the money I am coming up with is just
to pay the rent,” she said.
But
landlords argue the bill oversteps, allowing tenants to avoid eviction by
merely stating financial hardship rather than proving it.
“With no
requirement of proof that the Covid-19 pandemic negatively affected their income,
and no income limitation to qualify for eviction protection, a tenant whose
household income went from a half-million dollars to $250,000 would qualify for
eviction protection by declaring that their income has been ‘significantly
reduced,’” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization
Association, a landlord group.
The new
state law will allow evictions to proceed in cases where judges find tenants
have persistently created a nuisance for neighbors, like playing loud music at
3 a.m., or created hazardous conditions.
The
hardship declaration would not only cover financial hardship but also a
“significant health risk” of moving in the pandemic.
The law
also seeks to address the plight of landlords who own 10 or fewer apartments,
allowing them to file similar financial hardship declarations with their
mortgage lenders, to delay foreclosure proceedings. The law also applies to
foreclosures involving tax liens.
Jay Martin,
the executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, said that
while he understands the legislators’ desire to focus on smaller landlords, the
law is unnecessarily narrow.
“The
reality is a majority of renters in this city get their housing from what the
legislature would consider non-small operators,” said Mr. Martin, whose
organization represents landlords of rent-stabilized buildings. “Even a four-
or five-story walk-up has more than 10 units in New York City.”
Since
March, the governor, the state’s courts and the legislature have instituted a
series of sometimes overlapping measures designed to forestall evictions during
a crisis that has thrown millions out of work, and made it untenable for many
tenants to pay rent. Tenants’ inability to pay their landlords has, in turn,
made it difficult for some property owners to pay their own bills.
But the
ever-shifting state rules and court guidance have sown substantial confusion
among renters seeking to make sense of the legal morass. Tenant attorneys have
also expressed displeasure with how some housing court judges interpret the
law.
More than
elsewhere, courts in the Albany region and in Rochester “have been remarkably
unsympathetic to tenants’ situations,” said Ellen Davidson, a staff attorney at
the Legal Aid Society.
The new law
is by no means a panacea. Tenants will continue to owe landlords any back rent
they haven’t paid, once the moratorium ends.
The $1.3
billion in rent relief authorized by the federal government should help, tenant
advocates say, but it will not be enough to cover all tenants’ back rent.
Michael
McKee, the treasurer of Tenants PAC, a tenants rights group, praised the law as
“very close” to everything his organization wanted, but also warned that “when
this is all lifted, there will be people owing thousands and thousands of back
rent they cannot pay.”
Dana
Rubinstein is a reporter on the Metro desk covering New York City politics.
Before joining The Times in 2020, she spent nine years at the publication now
known as Politico New York. @danarubinstein
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