New York legislature plans to meet in special session Monday to block eviction proceedings amid coronavirus pandemic as low-income families face billions of people in all unpaid rent .
The legislature will pass what is effectively a two-month moratorium on evictions to give tenants a chance to declare the financial hardship caused by the pandemic and its frequent economic slowdown. The bill will cover all eviction proceedings that begin next month.
“Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic we have understood that home security must be an essential part of our effort to protect the health and well-being of all New Yorkers,” said State Senator Brian Kavanagh (D ), author of the bill. “We offer real protection to countless tenants and landlords who would otherwise run the risk of losing their home.”
The Kavanagh bill will create a standardized form that residents in financial difficulty can fill out. Tenants would file forms if they face loss of income or rising costs specifically due to the pandemic.
It also postpones foreclosures and sales of tax foreclosures for homeowners, an effort to protect smaller homeowners (those who own less than ten rental units) and homeowners.
Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo Gottlieb: New coronavirus strain “probably here in the U.S.” Why special advice is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or Jones as AG Cuomo grants clemency to 21 people who showed “remorse and rehabilitation” MORE (D) said Monday he would approve the measure.
“We have an agreement with them on a bill on the housing moratorium,” Cuomo said at a news conference. “As soon as this bill is passed, I will sign it.”
The pandemic has generated a backlog of overdue rents, which investment advisory firm Moody’s Analytics estimates at $ 70 billion nationwide. The federal government has banned evictions, a ban that the latest coronavirus relief package will now extend into late January.
According to a weekly Census Bureau survey, an estimated 11 million tenants have been left behind or will not be able to pay next month.
Several states have created their own eviction ban. California has avoided evictions until the end of January; Connecticut, Delaware, Colorado and Hawaii have extended the bans until February; and Washington, Oregon and Nevada will block evictions until later in the crisis.
Maryland, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have established bans that will last until the end of the crisis, with no specific date.