NYC Evictions Down Almost 20% Six Months After State Tenant Protections Enacted

"Evictions in the Big Apple have plummeted nearly 20% in the six months since Albany lawmakers enacted sweeping new tenant protection laws.

The drop. revealed in city data compiled over the past two years, shows evictions in the last half of 2019 stood at 8,951, down from 10,958 over the same period in 2018.

“These laws and programs are noticeably working and more New Yorkers are remaining in their homes,” said Judith Goldiner, head of the Legal Aid Society’s Civil Law Reform Unit.

In June, Gov. Cuomo signed off on a package of laws that made it more difficult for landlords to take apartments out of rent-regulated status and no longer allowed them to raise rents by as much as 20% when tenants move out of regulated units.

The 18.3% decrease in evictions over the last six months is also linked to the city’s Right to Counsel law, Goldiner and city officials noted.

The policy, enacted in 2017, guarantees tenants living below the federal poverty line get access to free legal help. The city has rolled out the policy deliberately. Presently, the law only covers cases in a limited number of zip codes per borough because, according to the law’s sponsor, Councilman Mark Levine, there are not enough lawyers to ramp it up more quickly..."

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