A housing rally organized by Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) in Hunts Point on Aug. 3 achieved the desired result: an extension of the State eviction moratorium. In addition, the State moratorium offers greater protections than its federal counterpart, which is also fortunate as in the meantime, the federal moratorium extension has been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Torres was joined at the Aug. 3 rally, held at 1231 Lafayette Avenue, by New York City Council Member Vanessa Gibson (C.D. 16) and advocates from Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), the Supportive Housing Network of New York, the New York Housing Conference, and the Legal Aid Society. Together, they called for the extension of the eviction moratorium at both State and federal levels, as the country and State continued to battle the effects of the Delta variant amid sluggish COVID-19 vaccination rates.

A previous federal eviction moratorium expired on July 31, and New York State’s moratorium was set to expire one month later, on Aug. 31. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced on Aug. 3 that the federal moratorium would be extended until Oct. 3 for areas experiencing substantial or high levels of COVID-19 community transmission.

In response to the CDC announcement, Torres said, “Although the CDC extended the eviction moratorium, we need New York State government to act. New York must expedite rental assistance to tenants in crisis and extend the State moratorium.” He added, “We cannot allow a single New Yorker to go homeless during the current pandemic and public health emergency.”

The congressman said letting the federal housing moratorium expire in the first place had been a failure on the part of all parties and branches of government. He specifically called out New York State officials for, in his view, a lack of action during the pandemic, citing the fact that New York was one of only two states which had failed to deliver rental assistance by the end of June.

Torres also highlighted the fact that less than 1 percent of available [federal] rental assistance had been distributed by the end of July. “New York State has been the most incompetent in administering the rental assistance program,” he said, adding that 24 percent of households in the Bronx owed back-rent, and half a million New Yorkers were in danger of facing eviction.

“Do not evict people from their homes,” he warned. “Give them the opportunity to pay their rent and hold on to their homes with the emergency rental assistance. Families who are in danger of losing their homes should not be faulted for the incompetence of the federal and state government,” he added.

Gibson, who is on track to become The Bronx’s next borough president if she wins the general election in November, reiterated Torres’ message, pointing to thousands of Bronxites who were struggling with rent and possibly facing eviction. “We know that there are many families that remain behind in their rent,” she said.

The councilwoman said expanding the eviction moratorium would provide families with the stability they needed. “Everyone deserves to have a solid roof over their heads, because the rippling effect of an eviction not only affects that head of household, but their children, and the entire community, who is predominantly immigrant New Yorkers and New Yorkers of color,” she said.

For their part, representatives from CASA said The Bronx continues to be greatly impacted by the pandemic because it is one of the poorest parts of the City. They said CASA had seen, firsthand, how the COVID-19 pandemic had affected Bronx residents and that they knew people who were not getting the money they needed.

Laura Mascuch, executive director of Supportive Housing Network in New York, said 74 percent of people in the homeless system were people of color, even though they make up only 24 percent of the population. She added that the eviction moratorium had helped reduce homelessness by over 25 percent since March 2020.

“We need an extended eviction moratorium to ensure that housing court isn’t flooded with eviction proceedings, and the shelter system and streets with what can be thousands of people. The human and economic costs are far too high,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jessica Bellinder, a supervising attorney with the Legal Aid Society in the Bronx, told Norwood News she worried that without the moratorium extension, there would be a wave of evictions because many people were not aware of their rights or the resources available to them to prevent such evictions.

“It’s reprehensible that we would, in the midst of this enormous health crisis, place this additional stress and anxiety on people that they might lose their homes because that is the kind of stress that ripples through the entire family and it causes an untold number of consequences,” said Bellinder.

Torres stressed that, ultimately, an eviction moratorium was not a permanent solution to the housing crisis. Citing the “Ending Homelessness Act,” a proposed federal bill of which he is a sponsor, as a systemic solution to the housing problem, explaining that it would establish a universal voucher program to ensure all eligible households could receive rental assistance.

The congressman said that even before the pandemic, more than 580,000 people were experiencing homelessness on any given night, and 10.5 million households were paying more than 50 percent of their income on rent.

Bellinder agreed with Torres, saying a long-term solution would be rents that are in line with people’s incomes.

On Aug. 27, CNN reported that in an unsigned, eight-page opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court had challenged the CDC’s authority to further extend the federal eviction moratorium to Oct. 3, insisting that Congress had been on notice that a further extension would almost surely require new legislation and highlighting that Congress had failed to act during the weeks leading up to the federal moratorium’s expiration date.

The Supreme Court also struck down one part of New York’s eviction moratorium, the fact that the tenant hardship declaration form did not provide a way for landlords to challenge it.

On Sept. 2, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a new State eviction moratorium on COVID-related residential and commercial evictions into law, effective through Jan. 15, 2022. The new law also expands the State’s rental assistance program and accompanying eviction protections to localities that had previously opted out of the program.

Hochul said the pandemic had created unimaginable anxiety for families and business owners who have lost income and are struggling to pay the rent every month. “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 Jan. 15. These steps will alleviate the crisis facing vulnerable New Yorkers who are suffering through no fault of their own.”

The law also enacts foreclosure protections for landlords and homeowners. New York now boasts the strongest eviction protections in the nation for those facing hardship due to COVID-19.

The new governor urged New Yorkers to apply to the State’s emergency rental assistance program (ERAP). State officials confirmed that applicants to the program are automatically protected from eviction while their applications are pending and they will receive a year of eviction protections if they qualify for assistance. To apply, go to: https://otda.ny.gov/programs/emergency-rental-assistance/.

State officials also confirmed that 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.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81) said the new State eviction moratorium was as much health policy as it was economic policy. “We must do everything we possibly can to keep New Yorkers safe amidst a surge in the Delta variant,” he said. “This law will help thousands of families keep a roof over their heads and doors open for small businesses as the State works to improve and streamline the ERAP program and we all work together on a recovery from this deadly pandemic.”

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.