House Democrats representing the five boroughs are pressing Gov. Kathy Hochul to extend the state’s eviction moratorium.
The newly sworn-in governor received a letter Saturday by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and co-signed by a dozen lawmakers, including Reps. Nydia Velazquez, Carolyn Maloney, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jerry Nadler, urging her to prolong the state-level ban, which is set to expire Tuesday.
“With the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, the beginning of the school year and continued issues associated with this global pandemic, it is imperative that New Yorkers can stay in their homes,” the letter read, according to NY1.
On Friday, Hochul announced that she plans to call a special session of the state legislature to address the expiring moratorium, a day after the Supreme Court ruled the Biden administration’s federal eviction ban unconstitutional.
Extending the state’s moratorium — now the only remaining protection against eviction proceedings for tenants who are behind on their rent — would allow more residents to tap into the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the letter noted. So far, New York has been slow to distribute such aid.
As of Aug. 23, $203 million of the approximately $2 trillion in available relief funds had been paid out. Hochul pledged to speed up the disbursement of relief funds on her first day in office last week.
Earlier this month, State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi and Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou introduced legislation that would prolong the state’s eviction and foreclosure moratoriums until Oct. 31.
[NY1] — Sasha Jones
Read more
Politics
New York
Scramble to stop evictions after Supreme Court cripples NY moratorium