New York Governor Kathy Hochul is calling the state legislature into a special session in hopes of extending an eviction moratorium and adding protections for tenants and property owners who fell behind on their rent or their mortgage because of hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

(Image: ny.gov)
(Image: ny.gov)
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Lawmakers were to return to Albany at around noon September 1 take up the issue of evictions.  While housing advocates are pushing for the extension, some landlords, especially those with only a few units up for rent, say continuing to hold back rent is putting them in severe financial hardship.  Some advocates for that group point to scofflaws who are taking advantage of laws preventing evictions to keep from paying their fair share to landlords who still have utilities, taxes and other bills of their own.

Hochul says Lawmakers will return to weigh continuing the moratorium until January 15. It was set to expire at the end of the day August 31.

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If lawmakers decide to extend the moratorium, they will have to change how it works. In an August 12 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out part of the moratorium that allowed tenants to pause eviction proceedings simply by filing a form declaring they’d had a pandemic-related hardship.

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