New York Extends Moratorium on Evictions

New York is extending its moratorium on evictions as the state’s economic shutdown put in place to slow the coronavirus pandemic continues to create financial hardships for many residents.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would sign an executive order that extends the moratorium for 60 days. The moratorium will now lapse on Aug. 20, unless renewed again.
“I don’t want to see people and their children being evicted at this time through no fault of their own,” Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference Thursday.
Mr. Cuomo’s executive order extending the moratorium comes amid soaring unemployment in New York. Some 1.5 million New Yorkers have received unemployment benefits since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the state Labor Department. An additional 195,242 residents filed for unemployment last week, according to federal figures released Thursday.
The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents thousands of owners of rent-regulated apartments, said landlords will also need financial assistance if tenants aren’t paying rent in order to pay mortgages, water bills, maintenance and repair costs.
An extension of the eviction moratorium “cannot be done on the backs of private building owners,” said Joseph Strasburg, president of the Rent Stabilization Association.
The governor said he understands that the extension of the eviction moratorium creates challenges for landlords and said the state is working with the banking industry to make sure there is additional relief for property owners, he said.
Mr. Cuomo’s executive order also permits tenants to use their safety deposit to pay rent and bars the landlords from charging late-payment fees.
Housing advocates said extending the eviction moratorium was a step in the right direction but more action is needed.
“There is still a real need to address the crisis at its root cause,” said Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for Housing Justice for All.
The housing-advocacy campaign has called on the governor to cancel rent and mortgages for the duration of the crisis and also wants the state to create a fund that small landlords would be able to tap to help absorb financial losses.
New York reported Thursday that the number of people hospitalized in the state due to Covid-19 dropped to 8,665, a decline of 514 patients from the previous day. The state also recorded 231 Covid-19 deaths on Thursday, raising the overall total to 20,828.
New York City to Test 140,000 Residents
In New York City, public-health officials are launching a free program to test 140,000 residents for antibodies for the new coronavirus.
The blood tests check for antibodies to show who had an infection in the past and could tell residents if they were sick, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference Thursday. They will also help health-care researchers learn more about Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, he said.
“The individual gets something they need, but the health-care leadership, the scientists, they get the information they need to do the research to answer the questions about the disease,” Mr. de Blasio said.
The 140,000 New York City residents who will be tested under the new program is on top of 140,000 city health-care workers and first responders who will be taking the test in the coming weeks, Mr. de Blasio said.
There will be testing sites in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, in Upper Manhattan, Morrisania in the Bronx, Long Island City in Queens, and in Concord on Staten Island. The first 70,000 tests for everyday New Yorkers will take place in May, and the next 70,000 will occur in June.
In New Jersey, a new analysis has found that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on racial and ethnic minorities in terms of rates of diagnosis and mortality.
Black males have had the highest rate of mortality with 8.4 deaths per hundred cases, according to the analysis released Thursday by New Jersey Hospital Association, a trade organization that represents the state’s hospitals. That figure was 7.4 per hundred cases for Black females.
The mortality rate for white males was 7.9 deaths per hundred cases and 5.7 for white females.
The data comes from patient records submitted as of April 1 by New Jersey hospitals from 12,581 individuals identified as Covid-19 cases.
The “analysis helps us learn much more about the outsized impact on our communities of color,” said Cathy Bennett, chief executive of the New Jersey Hospital Association. “This data is a valuable starting point for us to better understand the impact of this virus.”
New Jersey reported 254 Covid-19 deaths Thursday, raising the statewide total to 8,801.
Asians had the highest diagnosis rate with 25.7 per hundred cases for males and 21.3 per hundred cases for females, according to the analysis by the New Jersey Hospital Association. Hispanics had the second highest diagnosis rate at 20.3 per hundred cases for males and 17.6 per hundred cases for females.
The analysis notes that African-American and Hispanic New Jersey residents are also more likely to have comorbid conditions linked to Covid-19 deaths such as diabetes and obesity. African-Americans in New Jersey have a hypertension rate of 40.9 while the rate for Hispanics is 31.3%, according to the analysis. For white New Jersey residents, that figure is 28.6%.
https://www.marketscreener.com/news/New-York-Extends-Moratorium-on-Evictions-Update–30561754/