New York Passes New Moratorium On Evictions

[TTL News 313]

Early this morning, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a new moratorium on COVID-related residential and commercial evictions for New York State which is in effect until January 15, 2022. Under the new law, all protections of the Tenant Safe Harbor Act for residential tenants who are suffering financial hardship as a result of the pandemic will remain in place, along with new protections on commercial evictions.

"The pandemic has created unimaginable anxiety for families and business owners who have lost income and are struggling to pay the rent every month," Governor Hochul said. "To help remedy the Supreme Court's heartless decisions striking down the New York and the Biden administration's moratoriums on evictions, we are enacting a new moratorium on residential and commercial evictions and extending the protections of New York's Safe Harbor Act to January 15. These steps will alleviate the crisis facing vulnerable New Yorkers who are suffering through no fault of their own." 

Governor Hochul urges New Yorkers who are struggling to pay their rent to apply for assistance through the state's Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or ERAP. Applicants to this program are automatically protected from eviction while their application is pending and will receive a year of eviction protections if they qualify for assistance. The application is available here. 

As of August 31, more than $1.2 billion in funding has either been obligated or distributed through ERAP, including more than $300 million in direct payments to more than 23,000 landlords. 

The new law will permit anyone who resides in a locality that opted out of the state's program to administer their own rental assistance program, to apply to the state program when local funds are exhausted. People applying directly to their local programs will now also automatically benefit from the state's more expansive eviction protections.

The law also creates a $25 million fund to provide legal services to tenants facing eviction proceedings and to help them maintain housing stability in areas of the state where access to free legal assistance for such services is not available.

The law establishes a new $250 million Supplemental Emergency Rental Assistance program to serve additional households and to better support landlords. Through this program, $125 million will be made available to provide assistance to households with income that exceeds 80% of Area Median Income (AMI), and up to 120% of AMI. Additionally, $125 million will be made available for assistance to landlords whose tenants refuse to participate or have vacated the residence with arrears. 

Under New York's enacted moratorium, tenants must submit a hardship declaration, or a document explaining the source of the hardship, to prevent an eviction proceeding from moving forward. Landlords who believe that their tenant has not suffered a financial hardship will now be permitted to request a hearing in court. 

Landlords can also evict tenants that are creating safety or health hazards for other tenants, intentionally damaging property, and where a tenant did not submit a hardship declaration. 

The legislation places a moratorium on residential foreclosure proceedings so that homeowners and small landlords who own 10 or fewer residential dwellings can file hardship declarations with their mortgage lender, other foreclosing party, or a court that would prevent a foreclosure. 

The legislation's moratorium on commercial evictions and commercial foreclosure proceedings apply to small businesses with 100 or fewer employees that demonstrate a financial hardship. Tenants must submit a hardship declaration, or a document explaining the source of the hardship, to prevent evictions.

[Adam 377]

shes doing quite well at securing the vote in November

 

[Kevin 342]

They should have to prove they have the hardship! Many are still working and has the same income,  but are choosing to not pay or saying they have a hardship.  

[MsKreed 1,201]

33 minutes ago, Kevin said:

They should have to prove they have the hardship! Many are still working and has the same income,  but are choosing to not pay or saying they have a hardship.  

Still working? Even many not working had the same (or higher) income until this week when the bonus $300 finally expires.

Hell, I've heard stories of people who didn't work to begin with (on SSI/public assistance) skipping rent. 

 

At least property owners have some recourse available now:

3 hours ago, TwinTiersLiving said:

Under New York's enacted moratorium, tenants must submit a hardship declaration, or a document explaining the source of the hardship, to prevent an eviction proceeding from moving forward. Landlords who believe that their tenant has not suffered a financial hardship will now be permitted to request a hearing in court. 

No doubt there will be plenty of red tape and delays to get those hearings, but it's a little more than they had before.

And more satisfaction than employers who reported workers refusing to return to work....staying home and getting paid more. 

[Kevin 342]

A lot of land lords don't want the rental assistance because it is not the full amount.  It is only paying something like 80% of fair market rent. I under 80% is better than 0%. A lot of tenants don't care enough to even apply for it. 

I would expect to see alot if apartment building going up for foreclosure or sale real soon.