The eviction moratorium in New York has been extended.
The hotly-debated moratorium on residential and commercial evictions was extended via bill passed by lawmakers. It means tenants impacted by COVID-19 will not face eviction through August 31.
The bill made it comfortably through the state Senate and Assembly. The protections were scheduled to end on May 1 without an extension.
The bill will go to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk for his signature. While it hasn’t been confirmed that he would sign it- there’s high-likelihood that he does- given that the first several extensions were given his blessing.
The state adopted a rent relief program using $2.3 billion in federal COVID emergency money, but that program hasn’t started yet. It was intended to help tenants and landlords, who both feel inadequately protected by the legislative measures thus far.
Housing advocates have said the state should go further to ensuring that evictions don’t happen for any reason, citing housing as a human right. Meanwhile, landlord advocacy groups say that ‘small’ landlords are the ones being negatively impacted. While the legislation says that landlords with 10 or fewer properties can file for protection from foreclosure- that doesn’t mean the balances owed will disappear when the measures expire. They say it also doesn’t mean that tenants will be able to pay back the extensive back-rent racked up in some cases.
FingerLakes1.com is the region’s leading all-digital news publication. The company was founded in 1998 and has been keeping residents informed for more than two decades. Have a lead? Send it to [email protected]