Albany, NY – In response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to allow for New York’s eviction moratorium to expire without providing any additional aid to tenants, Rebecca Garrard, Legislative Director at Citizen Action of New York, released the following statement:
“Despite calls from advocates and tenants everywhere, Governor Hochul and the New York State Legislature have failed millions of New Yorkers today by allowing the eviction moratorium to expire without protecting tenants across the state. Even in her most recent State of the State Address, Governor Hochul failed to produce any real policy solutions to address the looming eviction crisis, leaving over 225,000 New York State renters to face open eviction cases. Since March of 2020 New York’s tenants have been met with woefully inadequate responses to the ongoing global pandemic, and we must do better.
At a time where so many are still unemployed, and our country is still setting record high COVID-19 infection numbers, Governor Hochul is still putting the needs of landlords over working class tenants who are struggling to make ends meet. Governor Hochul must act now to prevent the mass evictions that will occur next week. It is time for our elected leaders to protect the working-class renters of New York, instead of giving more handouts to predatory landlords. We must pass Good Cause Eviction and immediately invest funds in ERAP this session to avoid any further harm being done to the group of individuals that have suffered the most during this pandemic.”