BY EILEEN STUKANE | Life in the time of COVID-19 is a time of stress, especially when the first of the month arrives, rent is due, and “shelter in place” has eliminated your job—and income.

To his credit, Governor Andrew Cuomo did step in to help, but only up to a point. His moratorium on tenant evictions, which he extended from June 20 until August 20, allows rental tenants who are struggling with loss of income and mounting bills, to exhale a little—just a little.

The Governor did not call for a moratorium on rent. Federal stimulus checks and unemployment benefits, when they finally arrive, help reduce some debt, but those funds are usually not enough to meet all the monthly obligations when one’s means of support disappears. Even though the Governor’s mandate also states that security deposits can be used to cover unpaid rent, and that late fees cannot be imposed, the months pass, the rent mounts, and people still fear being forced from their place of residence, via eventual, legal, eviction.

Housing Justice For All, The Upstate/Downstate Housing Alliance, is a coalition of over 70 organizations that represent tenants, public housing residents, and homeless New Yorkers throughout the city and state. The organization is gathering stories from people worried about paying rent, and surviving during the pandemic. It only takes a sampling of the many narratives on its StoryMap to understand that with the arrival of COVID-19, there is a new kind of hardship in our city:

“During this covid pandemic we have been struggling to pay rent pay utilities and buy groceries no one has been working since this outbreak and we are going threw our saving very quickly due to all food prices and house essentials have been over priced please stop the rent.”

“I am no longer working because of the virus and even though I paid my rent this month I worry about what is going to happen next month and after that. My landlord is trying to charge huge fees if we are late paying rent. My building is especially vulnerable to harassment.”

“I lost my job a month ago! I can’t even get through the unemployment because the lines are so busy and the page is down. I have no income what so ever. My rent is $3850 a month plus utilities. Not counting grocery’s credit and car payments. There is no way I can pay any of this!”

CANCEL THE RENT?

Elected officials at the federal and local level are presenting their own bills and ideas for what to do next. Nothing is officially in place, but there’s activity all around, and it’s hard to believe one proposal won’t rise up and be legislated. In this month of May, according to a survey by Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP), 25% of New York City rental tenants did not pay their rent, a jump from April, when only 10% of tenants skipped rent.

What to do?

Suspending rent payments is one significant way to help those whose means are depleted, but doing so would cause the ripple effect of putting landlords, especially smaller landlords, in need of assistance to pay their bills. So here’s what some elected officials are proposing:

On the federal level, Minnesota’s Congressional Representative, Ilhan Omar, has introduced “Emergency Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Legislation,” which would cancel payments on rental homes, while allowing landlords to apply to have their losses covered by the federal government through a Rental Property Relief Fund administered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The suspension would last through one calendar month after the end of the national emergency. Right now, no one can predict just how that end will be recognized and decreed.

On the state level, in Albany, NY State Senator Michael Gianaris has proposed a bill that would suspend all rent payments for certain residential tenants and small business commercial tenants who have lost employment or were forced to close. Certain mortgage payments are also included in the bill, which would become effective for 90 days from the day it is signed into law.

However, a different bill in Albany proposed by NY State Senator Brian Kavanagh, joined by NY State Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz—a bill to create emergency rental assistance vouchers—was approved by the NY State Senate and Assembly on Thurs., May 28, and is on its way to Governor Cuomo for his approval.

A number of tenant groups and landlords support this approach. The voucher program would be financed through federal funds, and the government would pay for rent that exceeds 30% of an individual’s or family’s current monthly adjusted income, for rent up to 250% of the fair market rate for the area.

Speaking by phone, Senator Kavanagh explained to Chelsea Community News that through the voucher program, rent would be paid directly to the landlord, but would be administered by the NY State Homes and Community Renewal Agency (HCR).

“I think everybody understands that when the moratorium expires, you’re going to have to have some solution to the fact that many, many tenants, through no fault of their own, are going to have a lot of trouble paying the rent,” said Senator Kavanagh. “We don’t want to see a wave of evictions and we want to make sure that money is available to pay the rent, and also that landlords can do the work that is necessary to maintain their buildings, pay their costs, keep the lights on, and pay their taxes.”

Along these lines, Kavanagh is among over 200 NY State Senators, Assemblymembers, tenant advocates, and landlord groups asking the federal government to allocate at least $100 billion nationally for housing assistance and assistance for homeless people, with $10 billion going to the state of New York.

When asked which route would be more favorable—a voucher program or cancellation of rent—Oksana Mironova, Housing Policy Analyst for Community Service Society (CSS), said, “Both are potential solutions but both are short-term solutions. In addition to those, you would need to gain a long-term solution, funding for rental assistance long-term, or more permanently affordable housing. Unfortunately the passage of either of these bills is extremely difficult, but it’s just the beginning. Either of these bills would be a fine solution, but the difficulty is moving them right now.”

Locally, the New York City Council is working its way through a package of 11 bills that address the impact COVID-19 is having on New Yorkers. City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (whose District 3 area of coverage includes Chelsea), has spoken of a need to cancel rent in certain circumstances, and is sponsoring a bill that would ban evictions and debt collection in the city until April 2021.

Representing CHIP, an association of about 4,000 building owners and managers of over 400,000 rent-stabilized properties throughout New York City, its General Counsel, Joseph Condon, had testified before the City Council, speaking against Speaker Johnson’s bill to halt evictions and debt payments until April 2021.

Said Condon, in a recent phone interview, “Our fear for that kind of thing is that it sort of incentivizes nonpayment across the board as opposed to just people who have been impacted and have been able to take advantage of the relief that’s out there. From our perspective, most of our members are working with those tenants. We also don’t know what the world is going to look like in five months, let alone a year. All these things are projecting out very far into the future.”

Responding to our inquiries via email, Speaker Johnson said, “New Yorkers—particularly low-income families—have been devastated by the economic fallout from this awful virus. They need rent relief and they need it now. This means protection from evictions, it means extending time to repay back rent, and for the neediest families, it also means canceling rent. The Council will do everything we can at the local level to make that happen. We’ve already held a hearing on my bill, which would shield families from evictions and collections and give them more time to pay rents and debts. And we’re now considering the feedback we’ve received so we can move forward in a smart and strategic way.”

Johnson continued, noting, “We are committed to this fight, but everyone needs to remember that our city and state budgets have been crushed by COVID-19. The fastest and most comprehensive way to get meaningful rent relief is for the federal government to step up and provide the funding we desperately need. I am encouraged to see House Democrats fighting for that goal. They know that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are facing the choice between paying rent and going hungry. And they know that’s a choice no one should have to make.”

To support the movement to cancel rent, Housing Justice For All is sponsoring a petition to suspend rent, mortgage and utility payments “for the length of this crisis.” The petition is in the form of a letter to be sent to Governor Cuomo, NY Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and the NY State Congressional Delegation. The goal of 102,400 signatures is getting close to being met with over 94,459 signatures as of this article’s publication date. Those who want to add their signature to the letter can click here.

RENT STRIKE?

At a time when so many tenants are struggling, talk of banding together for a rent strike is inevitable. Offering a perspective, Thuy Pham, President of 2324 Chelsea Tenant Association, a building complex of almost 250 units, said, “Historically the rent strike had to do with slum landlords or absent landlords in buildings where there weren’t any repairs made. Elevators might be faulty. Safety is an issue. Then there would be cause to say ‘enough is enough’ and to strike against the landlord. What’s happening now is so pervasive that the rent strike is really more tied to the reality of the situation. ‘We can’t pay the rent. We shouldn’t be forced out of our homes if it’s not our fault. There should be some clemency here.’ ”

Some buildings in the city did strike on May 1. In her building, Pham inquired about whether tenants were interested in rent strike, if only to be in solidarity with others, but she has seen little enthusiasm. “No one has said ‘I want to do it.’ There’s also a misconception that since there can’t be any eviction, I don’t have to pay, which is not the case. That’s something I’ll probably have to clear up at our next meeting,” she said.

At the Housing Conservation Coordinators (HCC) Virtual Tenants Workshop on May 13, a question about whether rent strike was worthwhile was answered by HCC Tenant Organizer Natalie Naculich: “What we’re really doing right now is using rent strikes as a tactic, an action we can all take together to put pressure on elected officials and to win our demands, which are cancellation of rent and renewal leases and rent freezes for market rate tenants. We’re also recognizing that for a lot of people there’s no choice, they simply can’t pay, so we want to use that and show, make very clear, to elected officials that there are many people who can’t pay and they need to take action.”

Housing Justice for All offers a rent strike toolkit for building tenants who may want to organize and make their voices heard. To access that toolkit, click here.

On the other hand, CHIP’s General Counsel Condon sees a rent strike as a deterrent to solving rent difficulties, noting, “As far as our members go, we know that they’re working with their tenants and their flexibility or inability to pay rent. Tenants who can pay rent are still paying rent. Rent strikes building-wide remove the ability to do that. They put the owner in a difficult position. For the most part the owners are working with tenants who cannot pay. The rent strike is more a political agenda than it is a COVID-19 related issue. Unfortunately what we see a little bit is pushing instead of trying to deal with COVID and those issues that have come up. There’s a broader push for political agendas that aren’t helpful at this time.”

Project Parachute

In an unprecedented move, over 40 New York property owners, among them large real estate holding firms such as Brookfield Properties, Extell Development Company, and TF Cornerstone have seeded $4 million to create Project Parachute, a philanthropic fund that will be working with community-based organizations to reach low-income New Yorkers impacted by COVID-19. A prime goal of the fund is to keep underserved New Yorkers in their homes after the eviction moratorium expires.

As the May 14 press announcement of Project Parachute states, “The Project aims specifically to reach those who have limited or no access to government resources, including undocumented immigrants and shadow economy workers. The Project also seeks to support those New York City communities hit disproportionately hard by the Covid pandemic, including Black and Latino communities.”

Project Parachute will be independently managed and administered by Enterprise Community Partners, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the creation of affordable housing. Michael Collins, Senior Program Officer, Most Vulnerable Populations at Enterprise, says his organization is working to launch the project by early July. “We really want to ensure that our partners are able to support tenants before the moratorium ends for residents having to pay an increase, and residents seeking assistance,” he noted.

Certain nonprofits, such as Services for the Underserved and Catholic Charities, were selected to participate in Project Parachute due to their own efforts in serving low-income tenants and their involvement with Homebase, services aimed at eviction and homelessness prevention with locations throughout the city. “There are a number of outlets for tenants to become aware of Project Parachute,” said Collins, adding, “Landlords can directly refer tenants to a Homebase service provider. Also, Homebase service providers will be doing some outreach within their catchment areas, or people can call 311 to be referred to a Homebase service provider.” To learn more about Homebase, click here.

In addition to preventing evictions and increasing housing stability, the goals of Project Parachute, according to Collins, include “tenant advocacy, financial counseling, tenant rights education, rental assistance counseling and other services to increase their housing stability…We are still working on finalizing that full suite of services which we intend to include.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Governor Cuomo’s extension of his eviction moratorium until August is causing some confusion. This latest ban is limited to renters who are “eligible for unemployment insurance or benefits under state or federal law or otherwise facing financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The Governor’s order does not define “financial hardship.”

Robert Desir, Staff Attorney, Legal Aid Society, describes the confusion that is ensuing as a result:

“Regarding the tenant having to prove [financial hardship], that’s a big source of confusion to us. The tenant advocacy community, even the landlords, are asking questions. It’s not clear at what point the tenant has to show that they meet this criteria to avoid court action. It’s not clear if the landlord has to be proactive before they commence the case, or if the landlord proceeds and it’s on the tenant to show proofs that they meet this criteria. Then also, it’s not clear what standards the courts are going to use to decide whether or not someone meets the criteria, the most vulnerable people. At first evictions were halted. Now, no halt unless you can meet these standards, that you suffered financial hardship due to COVID, or that you’re currently receiving unemployment insurance or unemployment benefits. It’s really unclear. We’ve been having conversations with elected officials and thinking about ways that we can reach the Governor’s office and have a meaningful discussion about this.”

Attorney Desir also notes that under the wording of the Governor’s order, the eviction moratorium is to extend 60 days from June 20, which means that it ends on August 18, not August 20, which has been the publicized date. An August date may become a thing of the past, however, as the Legislature in Albany passed a bill on Wed., May 27, to extend the eviction moratorium to an as-yet unknown date, recognized as the final reopening of the state. The bill awaits Governor Cuomo’s signature before it can be enacted. Extending the moratorium does not alleviate tenants from the responsibility of paying the rent, however, and the confusion referred to by Attorney Desir would still exist.

During this time of the moratorium, the hope is that a clear directive will be set in place, and tenants will know their rights and options and deadlines for working with their landlords and paying the rent. No one wants to lose their home.

NEW YORK CITY RESOURCES FOR TENANTS

Mayor’s Office To Protect Tenants (MOPT)

https://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/tenant-support-unit.page

Tenant Support Unit (TSU)

https://www1.nyc.gov/content/tenantprotection/pages/

NYC Human Resources Administration/Legal Assistance

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/legal-services-for-tenants.page

Chelsea Community News is made possible with the help of our awesome advertisers, and the support of our readers. If you like what you see, please consider taking part in our GoFundMe campaign (click here). To make a direct donation, give feedback about the site, or send a Letter to The Editor, email us at Scott@chelseacommunitynews.com.