Here's what Syracuse renters should know as eviction moratorium ends

By Sarah Alessandrini

This article was originally published in The Daily Orange.

Tenants’ rights advocates in the city of Syracuse are bracing for the planned ending of New York’s statewide eviction moratorium on Oct. 1, which will open the door for landlords to evict tenants for the first time in six months.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the moratorium in March in response to the worsening coronavirus outbreak in New York state. As the end of the moratorium draws closer, tenants’ organizations in Syracuse are working to educate tenants on how they can protect their rights, pay off back rent and avoid eviction.

The state moratorium prevents landlords from evicting tenants who can’t pay their monthly rent due to income lost during the pandemic. The state intended for the order to help tenants who had lost their jobs focus on paying for food and other more immediate necessities, said Mary Traynor, an attorney at Legal Services of Central New York.

But when the moratorium ends, tenants will still owe the rent for the months they couldn’t pay, said Sharon Sherman, executive director of the Greater Syracuse Tenants Network. But the tenants will likely not be able to pay the rent that’s owed, Sherman said.

“There is a good population of people who had never been in this situation before,” Sherman said. They always worked. They never were abruptly cut off from their income.”

Palmer Harvey, co-founder of the Syracuse Tenants Union, said the union is working to educate city residents about what the moratorium’s end actually entails. Some tenants thought they would never have to pay rent owed during the moratorium period, though that isn’t the case.

New York passed legislation in 2019 that extended the amount of time it takes for landlords in the state to evict tenants. Under the legislation, if the state lifts the moratorium on Oct. 1 as planned, the earliest date a landlord could bring the case before an eviction court is Oct. 25, Sherman said.

If the court rules in favor of the landlord, that landlord has to wait at least another 10 days before they can take possession of the property, she said.

“The fear is that eventually we will have a significant number of people who will be evicted and be homeless,” Sherman said.

The first wave of evictions in Syracuse will likely occur in the first two weeks of November, then keep going, Sherman said. The situation could become particularly dangerous as tenants face eviction during the winter months.

“It’s gonna take about a month after the state moratorium ends when you’re gonna see an uptick in homelessness, people living together, all things you don’t wanna see during COVID,” Harvey said.

Tenants must know their rights, Traynor said, as some landlords in Syracuse have mistreated tenants who have been unable to pay rent during the pandemic. Many tenants don’t realize it’s illegal for landlords to threaten them or throw their belongings on the street, as some may attempt to do, Harvey said.

“(Landlords) have seriously upped their harassment game,” Traynor said. “If people still don’t have a job after the moratorium ends, I think landlords will just shift to making life unbearable.”

Landlords may continue to harass tenants even if they succeed in evicting them, Sherman said. Even after the tenant has surrendered their keys and is no longer occupying the property, landlords can still come after them for the rent they owe.

The debt, she said, will continue to follow them.

“They will always owe the money,” Sherman said.

Sherman, Harvey and Traynor all said the Oct. 1 end date for the moratorium is too early. Harvey believes the state should instead extend the moratorium to December, when the federal moratorium from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is set to end.

To be covered under the CDC’s guidelines, though, tenants must prove in eviction court that they could not pay their rent due to financial difficulties related to the pandemic.

Even if an eviction court rules in favor of a tenant, they’ll still owe the rent they haven’t paid, Sherman said. The moratorium really just pushes off the inevitable, Harvey and Traynor said.

Onondaga County and the city of Syracuse are planning to use funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to open a rent relief program that will help tenants pay off their back rent. But the program won’t be enough, Sherman said.

“What (the city) really wants to target is people who have gone back to work at lower-income salaries and are now able to maintain their existing rent, but they have this burden on their back,” Sherman said.

Tenants who are at risk of eviction should get their paperwork and records together in the coming weeks and start seeking legal assistance, Harvey said.

“It’s important that, if you are at risk (for eviction), do not wait to get help,” Harvey said. “Reach out. Document everything.”