Cuomo Extends Eviction Ban Into September

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order late Wednesday to stop the state’s ban on evictions from expiring.

The order now runs through Sept. 4, The Real Deal reports. One part of the moratorium on evictions was set to expire this week, and thousands of evictions lodged before the coronavirus pandemic could have been executed.

Lawyers and landlords told Bisnow this week that, despite the moratorium end date looming, they were not expecting mass evictions to take place.

"I won’t say nothing will change, but certainly the court system is going to be very, very, very deferential and very mindful of evicting anybody through this situation,” Luise Barrack, a Rosenberg & Estis member attorney who heads the firm's litigation practice, said last week. “Moving forward, that sensitivity will continue and there will continue to be a reluctance to take action against a residential tenant based upon nonpayment of rent.”

There have been fears that thousands of New Yorkers would face being thrown out of their homes once evictions proceedings were back up and running. Though landlords have said residential rental payments have been better than expected, most people believe the industry needs to work with the government to find a way to keep people in their homes. 

Federal unemployment benefits providing those out of work with an additional $600 each week expired Friday, and a federal moratorium on evictions at properties with federal government-backed mortgages expired a week earlier.

“It’s going to be a far bigger humanitarian crisis and cost to society and the city if people are forced out of their homes because of a lack of ability to pay rent,” L+M Development Partners co-founder Ron Moelis said on Bisnow’s affordable housing webinar this week. "It's an opportunity for us in the industry … I think there are ways to work within the system and create models that are not eviction-based, or at least creating models where evictions are last resort, not an early resort.”

Contact Miriam Hall at miriam.hall@bisnow.com.