New York Governor Kathy Hochul sits during her swearing-in ceremony at the New York State Capitol in Albany, New York, on August 24, 2021. – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo handed the reins of the nation’s fourth most populous state to lieutenant governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who will become the first female governor of New York. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images)
ALBANY, NY – New York lawmakers were due to hold a special session Wednesday to potentially extend the state moratorium on evictions put in place to protect tenants and homeowners suffering from the hardship caused by the COVID with their rent or mortgage are in arrears -19 pandemic.
Governor Kathy Hochul’s office announced a press conference on Tuesday at 6 p.m. While they did not reveal the nature of the event, the timing would imply a rental-related announcement.
The moratorium was due to expire at the end of the day on Tuesday. If the legislature decides to extend the moratorium, it has to change the way it works.
On August 12, the US Supreme Court lifted part of the moratorium that allowed tenants to suspend eviction proceedings by simply filing a form declaring they had pandemic hardship.
Protesters marched into Hochul’s Manhattan office – blocking traffic along Third Avenue for a while – urging them to call lawmakers back into session to extend the state’s eviction moratorium.
But she says the best people can do right now is apply for the rental emergency program.
It protects tenants for up to a year after applying for the money and eventually pays landlords to help them with their mortgages and other expenses.
Hochul’s promise to get more COVID-19 rental aid money into the hands of struggling New York renters has taken on renewed urgency after the US Supreme Court lifted the Biden government’s temporary federal ban on evictions. Thursday’s court ruling meant New Yorkers who have lagged behind their rent due to the financial hardship of the pandemic will have less protection when the state eviction ban expires on August 31. The New York rent relief program began slowly. It is said to spend more than $ 2.4 billion to renters. But by Monday the state had only distributed $ 200 million of that money.
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