Dear John,
There aren’t many things more cruel than evicting families into homelessness in the middle of a pandemic. Yet that is exactly what we are facing when housing courts reopen around the country and here in NYC. New York state’s freeze on evictions, which expired last night, appears to have been extended by the courts until September 4. But this last minute reprieve from immediate evictions proceedings isn't the way we should be addressing the looming eviction crisis.
The Legal Aid Society anticipates that 14,000 New Yorkers may face evictions immediately when housing courts restart proceedings. With the federal unemployment benefits expiring, many more may follow. Nearly 46% of New Yorkers are vulnerable to eviction. The eviction crisis isn’t new, of course (as Matthew Desmond and the Eviction Lab have taught us), but what we are facing now is a crisis of pandemic proportions.
The response at the state and federal level has heightened confusion and anxiety for the millions of people who can't pay rent.
Advocates have been out at the courts every morning this week protesting (following the example of protesters in New Orleans and elsewhere who blocked housing courts from reopening earlier this week). I joined the Crown Heights Tenants Union and the Housing Justice for All Coalition on Tuesday at housing court in downtown Brooklyn on Tuesday, and they were out there again today.
The short term answer should be clear: extend the eviction moratorium. Not in a haphazard way that applies to some and not others and allows evictions cases to be filed against tenants, but a real full, longer term moratorium that could relieve some of the stress for families trying to keep afloat during this crisis.
Governor Cuomo’s full eviction moratorium expired in June, when the state legislature passed the “Tenant Safe Harbor Law,” a weaker provision that gives tenants a defense in court for nonpayment due to COVID, but still allows eviction cases to be filed and keeps tenants on the hook for back rent. The courts offered some relief by keeping cases from moving forward, until that freeze was scheduled to end yesterday. Cuomo signed an executive order last night allowing the courts to extend that freeze for another 30 days, but today, we’re still awaiting more details and guidance from the courts. No one will be evicted right away, but the rent they aren’t able to pay will keep piling up, more eviction cases will be filed, and it’s not yet clear whether the courts will allow new cases to proceed to the hearing stage.
Today is also the last day to apply for New York State’s modest state rent relief program that aims to pay part of the rent for a very limited group of tenants who face high rent burdens and have lost income during the pandemic.
In a country with minimally sane and competent leadership, of course, the pandemic proportions of this crisis would be addressed at the federal level, with a national eviction moratorium, pressure on banks to address mortgage payments, rental assistance, renewed unemployment and stimulus payments, and more. Sadly, we don’t live in such a country. One more reason why November 3rd and (kinahora) January 20th can’t come soon enough.
In the meantime, the State Legislature and the Governor must take more aggressive action.
State Senator Zellnor Myrie is pushing legislation that would establish a full eviction moratorium that would last as long as this crisis does and extend for a full year after the state of emergency as people rebuild their lives and the economy. The state legislature should pass it.
Renters who can’t pay rent now are unlikely to be able to find the money to pay the rent that is piling up later, so some kind of rent forgiveness, cancellation, or relief will be needed. The state could pass Senator Julia Salazar’s bill to cancel rent with support for small landlords, or the federal government could step in with rent assistance and pressure on banks to renegotiate mortgages to lift the burden on landlords.
Governor Cuomo has steadfastly opposed any form of raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to pay for COVID-19 relief for excluded immigrant workers or fill budget gaps, claiming that it would push those people to leave the city permanently. But nearly 1 in 5 New Yorkers are out of work, and tens of thousands are excluded from unemployment insurance and federal relief. Earlier this week, Governor Cuomo told reporters that he was talking to people in their Hamptons homes “all day” and that taxing them would push them away.
If the governor won't support a millionaires tax, maybe he could at least use his “call time” to organize house-swaps. Instead of higher taxes, those who have second homes in the Hamptons could give their NYC residence to New Yorkers facing eviction and homelessness.
We’re going to have to get a lot more creative. While they aren’t organizing house-swaps for billionaires, Barcelona is requiring landlords to rent vacant units, or else the city will seize them to rent out at half of market value as social housing. I’ve reached out to our friends from Barcelona En Comu (building on their “Fearless Cities” conference in 2017 and some joint housing policy work we started afterward), and I hope to hold a webinar with them later this summer on bold action cities can take.
Leaving tens of thousands of New Yorkers on their own to face eviction is not the only option. Another housing policy world is possible.
Brad
In this email:
Updates and Resources
Upcoming Events
Updates and Resources
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Latest Virus Results: There were 333 new cases identified yesterday. We have lost 23,563 people in NYC from the virus, and 226,914 total cases have been identified in the city. Currently, the percent of tests that came back positive remains low, 1.0% as of yesterday.
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Storm Damage: 300,000 New Yorkers lost power during the storm, the strongest since Hurricane Sandy eight years ago. Con Edison is working to restore power to the 70,000 households still in the dark. More than 20,000 trees were downed around the city, taking power lines down with them. If there are still trees down in your neighborhood, report them to 311 here and also let us know so we can follow up.
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Assistance for Renters:
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Parent Survey on Remote Learning due tomorrow: Here’s the form to opt into fully remote learning. With few good answers from the City, the best option will be different for every family. The city announced yesterday that there will be a dedicated contact tracing team for schools this fall, one of the many demands that teachers have made for better safety protocols if schools are to reopen this fall. The City’s plans for this fall still leave many questions and uncertainties, and a lot of anxiety for parents and teachers. Join us tonight to talk about pushing for schools to have access to more outdoor space. Tomorrow's survey deadline is not the last chance to opt for full remote, parents can opt for that at any time.
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Checkpoints: The Mayor announced that the City is setting up checkpoints for vehicles at entrances to New York City to help encourage compliance with the state's 14-day quarantine order for people who have visited one of the 35 designated states where risk of COVID-19 transmission is high. Keeping our transmission rates low is important, but it is hard to see how random checks of cars and travellers wont be a recipe for racial profiling. We’ll be watching to see how this program rolls out.
Upcoming Events
Tonight, August 6, 7 PM: Outdoor Schools Organizing Townhall. Sign up here.
Join us to connect with parents, teachers, and advocates to organize for schools to be able to use more outdoor space and share creative ideas and resources for outdoor learning already being developed in schools around the city.
Mondays, August 17, 10 AM: Prospect Park “It’s My Park” Clean Up Day
Both Prospect Park Alliance and NYC Parks have lost critical funding, and the park's seasonal workforce is significantly smaller compared to previous years. Join me to help pick up trash and clean up the park. Sign up here to join at 10 am on 8/17 or any other Monday in August.
Thursday, August 20, 5:45 PM to 8:00 PM: Census Phonebank. Sign up here.
The Trump administration is cutting short the time for canvassing for Census responses, but NYC is still really behind and facing the risk that communities of color will be seriously under counted. Join us to call New Yorkers in neighborhoods with low response rates to make sure everyone is counted.
