As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on across the country, tenants and advocates fear an eviction crisis is looming around the corner. This week, the $600-per-week pandemic unemployment benefits through the federal CARES Act expires. In Brooklyn, housing courts have reopened for in-person trials on pre-coronavirus cases in which both sides have lawyers, with Staten Island's housing court expected to reopen on August 10th.
And yet 1.5 million people in New York State are still collecting unemployment benefits as of this month and more than 85,000 people applied the week ending July 25th. According to a recent analysis led by the firm Stout Risius Ross, some 46 percent of New York renters are unable to pay rent, putting them at risk of eviction.
Twenty-one year old Denisse Miramón lives with her parents and two siblings in Greenpoint. She says the family is already three months behind on rent after their father was out of work in construction during the statewide shutdown. Prior to the pandemic, he wasn't working as often during the wintertime, due to the seasonal nature of his job. Her father didn't qualify for unemployment, and when the family's federal stimulus money arrived, it went straight to food.
"When the stimulus check came, [my parents] used that money for food," said Miramón, whose parents and two siblings became sick with COVID-19 in March. "We had to cut off the TV service. ... The city helped us out with not paying much on the [electricity and gas] so that was a huge bonus."
Miramón said her mother, Catalina, worries about the city re-closing again under a second wave of coronavirus.
"The thought of the city closing really stresses her out, thinking, 'How am I going to pay these rents?" said Miramón. "Mostly because, she says, 'I don't want them to think that we don't want to pay them. It's just that I can't find a way to pay them.'"
One measure signed last month by Governor Andrew Cuomo, the Tenant Safe Harbor Act, prevents landlords from evicting tenants who have suffered financial hardship during COVID-19 for the duration of the crisis—but allows them to seek rental payments from renters. But tenant attorneys say it will only delay evictions.
Landlords "can get a money judgment and that money judgment in turn, could down the road leads to people's eviction, because if the landlord gets the money judgment and starts garnishing the person's wages, then they're going to fall behind on their rent again," said Joanna Laine, member of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys.
"They're going to just wind up in housing court and being at risk of eviction a year down the road," Laine said. "So it's only it's actually just delaying the problem. It's not really it's not at all preventing evictions. At best, it's delaying eviction."
Elected officials and tenant advocates recognized the measure was limited in its scope, but saw it is a "crucial step." The measure is less ambitious than a state bill to cancel rent, which was recently proposed after an earlier version was dropped.
Meanwhile, a $100 million rent relief program—federally funded and administered through the state—has stringent requirements and barriers to accessing the application.
After Cuomo signed the Tenant Safe Harbor Act in June, the broader eviction moratorium enacted during the height of the pandemic was quietly reversed. Despite the more limited protections offered by the Tenant Safe Harbor Act, tenant attorneys say the guidance is changing and lacks clarity—especially for renters who may be unsure of their rights.
An Office of Court Administration spokesperson said new guidance on proceedings for eviction warrants would be announced before August 5th, when the governor's current executive order expires.
Even despite Cuomo's original moratorium, 719 eviction petitions were filed in housing court since June 20th, according to a NY1 report.
"Unless there's some sort of miracle, people suddenly hit the lottery, or if all the landlords agree to cancel the rent, there's nothing in the law that says the judges can just forgive that," Diana Li, tenant lawyer and another Legal Aid union member, told Gothamist. "That's something that concerns everyone."
Li added that it is worse for undocumented renters, who may fear providing personal and financial information to the courts system if a landlord takes them to court.
"You can give them as many attorneys as you as you want," Li said. "But at the end of the day, this is their lives and their choices. The attorneys aren't going to magically make this problem go away."
Others may just move out to avoid the constant anxiety provoked by the threat of eviction.
"A lot of people have said to me, 'Oh, you know, maybe I should just move out.' Even when they have the world's strongest most bullet proof case, tenants feel so anxious and the emotional toll of living with that uncertainty can be unbearable and can genuinely affect people's mental health," Laine said.
Crown Heights resident Vaughn Armor has gone on rent strike after losing some $700 a month in income when he lost his drum line teaching gigs at an after-school program and a church.
Armor, 69, receives Social Security payments, but has still had to cut back, he said.
"The electric bills, I pay it, but I'm in a plan now," he said. "Same thing with the gas. ... And my air conditioning, I never use [it] because I don't want the electric to be high."
"It's a struggle," Armor added. "And then on top of it, then you have to face the problems in the building."
