New York can and should press pause on all eviction proceedings until Governor Cuomo’s Covid-19 state of emergency is lifted. It is unjust and counterproductive to make anyone defend themselves against the threat of homelessness due to a public health crisis that is outside of their control. In the longer term, the legislature should pass State Senators Brad Hoylman’s and Brian Kavanagh’s bill that would automatically stay all eviction proceedings during future emergency declarations.
People who face eviction are often the most vulnerable to the very threats that Covid-19 poses. Go to Bronx Housing Court, where I have direct experience, on any day of the week and you will see people who are elderly, disabled, or infirm huddled in and around the courtrooms waiting for their case numbers to be called. These are precisely the groups that Governor Cuomo’s State of Emergency is meant to help protect.
Many tenants end up in housing court due to a short term drop in their income; for example, a tenant’s child gets sick so the tenant has to take unpaid time off of driving for Uber to care for his kid and falls behind on rent. The lack of paid sick leave for contractors in the gig-economy is an important contributor to evictions throughout the state. Add to this reality Mayor De Blasio’s recommendation that city residents avoid using the subway, which is many tenants’ only available mode of transportation to and from court, and you get a situation in which it is unreasonable to expect tenants to defend against and comply with eviction orders while the State of Emergency is in effect.
Pausing all eviction proceedings would have the added benefit of slowing the spread of Covid-19. New York Housing Court is a petrie dish in which the disease can spread. The environment breeds stress and, as mentioned, brings many immunocompromised people into contact with tenant lawyers, landlord lawyers, judges, other tenants, and officers of the court. Because workers in America do not have guaranteed child care or health care, when a tenant’s child gets sick the tenant is often forced to bring their untreated kid with them to court. This could lead to a nightmare scenario in which everyone involved in New York’s courts is exposed to the virus and vulnerable tenants, lawyers, judges, and officers die as a result.
One group that is able to avoid exposure in housing court is the very group responsible for bringing the eviction actions in the first place: landlords. Because landlords often hide behind corporate entities, those who are represented by lawyers almost never show up to housing court. Expecting tenants who are struggling with Covid-19 and unemployment to defend themselves against evictions in court while their landlords can stay at home is unfair.
Some small landlords are likely to struggle financially during this outbreak too. This is not a reason to process evictions during the State of Emergency. A just policy would instead be for the legislature to set aside emergency rent assistance for tenants whose livelihoods have been impacted by the spread of Covid-19 while the State pauses eviction proceedings. The state could go further and halt all mortgage payments, the way Italy did, which would ease pressure on smalltime landlords and their tenants.
New York City already has a self-professed homelessness crisis. The State should stay eviction proceedings until the State of Emergency is lifted so that the Covid-19 crisis doesn’t make it worse.