Many mom-and-pop housing providers suffer enormously in New York due to continuous non-payment from tenants, some cases have lasted 3+ years with an average of 1-2 years of non-payment. Housing providers are going through the hardest time ever because they cannot evict a non-paying tenant. Please support this petition for mom-and-pop housing providers with the following asks: 

1. END Emergency Rental Assitance Program (ERAP) Eviction Protection
New York State’s blanket eviction protections tied to ERAP applications have deprived housing providers of their constitutional right to due process at every turn. Housing providers can’t make ends meet by refinancing their properties or selling them with non-paying ERAP-protected tenants inside. 

Mom-and-pop housing providers are the only ones that were forced to provide services for free throughout COVID at their own expense. Tenants owe 2 or more years in arrears, but ERAP’s maximum coverage is 15 months…yet New York State continues to force landlords to house these non-paying tenants without recourse!

2. Increase number of housing court judges and have appropriate court staffing levels
With recent COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium from March 2020 to January 2022, housing courts were closed resulting in a long pile of housing cases. Even with the housing court opening back up on January, we are still seeing delays with eviction cases. The continuous court adjournment are creating additional financial loses for mom-and-pop housing providers. We ask the state to staff up additional judges and court staff to move housing case forward.

“We’re still far below what the numbers looked like pre-pandemic,” said Ryan Brenner, a research analyst at the NYU Furman Center. “But now we’re consistently at some of the highest filing points. And actual evictions are at their highest point since the pandemic.” - Article from City and State NY

3. Provide free legal counsel for low-income housing providers 
Low-income tenants receive free legal counsel for all housing cases, however, small housing providers do not qualify for free legal aid for any reason, even if low income. So on top of mortgages, utilities, taxes, and any state violations, housing providers must pay a significant legal fee for eviction. We ask the state to be fair and treat landlords and tenants equally. 

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In the News

1. West Village ‘grifter’ Kate Gladstone evicted after more than three years
2. Landlords bitten by program intended to feed them
3. “Tsunami” of NYC evictions? More like a trickle

4. The shortage of judges in NY’s Housing Court is causing massive pain for both tenants and landlords

5. NY gets more federal rent aid — but only 6% of need
6. Inflation Has Hit Tenants Hard. What About Their Landlords?
7. Mom-and-pop landlords still hurting from Albany’s bureaucratic bungling on ERAP

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Stories from NY mom-and-pop housing providers
Are you a small housing provider? Share your story with us! 

Story 1: Started eviction in May of 2020 so I could move back in. Tenants are destroying house also. They stopped paying in June of 2020 through March of 2021 they started paying again. We went to court several times and on day of our court date they applied for ERAP! They are section 8 tenants so their ERAP application hasn’t even been addressed nor will it be paid. But as you know I can’t evict nor raise rent! They had 3 kids when they moved in now have 5 with a 6th on the way!!! In July of 2021 house was flooded. I had to put new hot water heater in $500, new furnace $8900 and masonry work done for flood damage $4500. A total of $13,900!! I rent house for $1000! Tenant is not taking care of property it’s a mess in side with damage. Now with 8 people in home I’m concerned septic will be overwhelmed!! They get legal aid paid with my tax dollars!! The house I grew up in is almost beyond repair. I was hoping to retire soon, but I’ll be working using my retirement money to fix up house!! I own my own home but I’m homeless!!

Story 2: 2-family house in Queens. We live upstairs, with tenants downstairs. They stopped paying rent when the courts closed. They harass us every day (yell stuff through their door when they hear us in the shared hallway, blast music under our stairs which is in their pantry all day because I work nights, spit on our walkway to our cars in the yard, when they hear me coming sometimes they open n slam their door, sometimes if they see us doing something in the front they will just stand by the door and watch us), more family moved in, they called HPD on us a bunch of times, we got a violation for a leaking kitchen sink, but they won't allow us in to fix it.

We filed for eviction in Dec 2020. Finally got a court date in July 2022. It was adjourned because of a pending ERAP. They completed their ERAP application but won't give me the birthday they used so I couldn't link our applications. I applied for LRAP in Oct 2021. They reviewed my application in June 2022, then denied it. 

My lawyer filed a motion to lift the ERAP stay. Their lawyer filed a counter motion to ask the judge not to lift the ERAP stay. We've been waiting months to get another court date for the judge to give us a decision.

This is fraud."

Story 3: "My husband and I own a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house in Staatsburg NY, my tenants rented the house for 2 years starting in April 2020, they had the option to rent to own and or buy outright multiple times during the course of the lease, as they knew from the get go that we were selling the house at the end of the lease. We sent up a certified letter the last week of December informing them that we would not be renewing the lease and that if they wanted to move out before the end of the lease they could move out without penalties as long as they gave us 30 days notice. 

January only the one tenant paid rent, multiple attempts to find out what was going on and no responses, obtained a lawyer for 1350 to start the eviction process. March 7th, 3 days before our first court date I received a text that one tenant applied for ERAP. Which now puts a stop to eviction in the courts eyes. This process is still going on as of September 26.2022. ERAP approved the application in the middle of July 2022, the state paid myself back rent and rent until September with the tenants having to pay rent in October 2022. Rent can can’t go up in price for a year and we are unable to evict unless they stop paying. Last weekend I was informed by my tenant “Erap also only paid you 6 months of back rent I’m entitled to 12 months of paid back rent” Again mind you she hasn’t paid rent at all in the year 2022.

The mental and stress that this has caused myself and my family is unreal. This is an everyday all day fight. From calling ERAP multiple times a day/ week to using twitter to get my story out. The financial burden that this has caused, I still needed to make the mortgage payments, taxes, and upkeep on the house. We had to pay for someone to fix the dryer because the tenant over loaded the dryer, but it’s okay cause the tenant is out of propane so she won’t be using that anytime soon. Had to pay for plumbers to unclog the countless pipes because wipes kept being flushed down the drain. Oh and the house is out of oil, tenants responsible for it, no oil delivery since February 2022. Our house is being destroyed and NY is allowing it."

Story 4: I inherited a property from my father on December of 2019. I never collected a single dollar of rent from my occupants. By July of 2020 I hired an attorney who filed holdovers back in September of 2020, treating them as squatters. We had 5 hearings and then the squatters submitted an ERAP application in January of 2022 which caused any future hearings to be stayed. In July 1 of 2022 the ERAP applications were denied. I only learned of that on July 25, 2022. Now I've been trying to get an answer of what happened with my cases from my attorney. Hes been mentioning to me that Queens is heavily backlogged right now and that its moving at a snails pace and for that reason has not filed any motion to lift ERAP.

I'm struggling badly. Utility bills have amounted to over $20000. I've been able to pay the property tax and mortgage but that's it.

Story 5: Tenant latched onto ERAP program and stopped paying rent. Over a year. On S8 with over $92,000 in income. Finally got ERAP payment after a year and only after they got their S8 assistance terminated. Wrote to Governor, NYS AG, ERAP Commissioner. All, no replies. Contacted State Senator's office. Used their ERAP Laiason to get status, no help on ERAP restrictions. Was able to get tenants off S* for contract violations. Only then was ERAP status changed and payment made. Just got it end of July 2022 ( one year ). Next step is to move in as my primary residence. Means another eviction and another delay. Rental Laws in NY State need to change to make it a level playing field instead of tenant friendly. Until then, more landlords will suffer, foreclose or sell.