Edited by: JV Staff
As New Yorkers continue to struggle during these economically challenging times, on Friday, Mayor Bill DeBlasio called on the state to extend the inability of courts to have tenants legally evicted for non-payment of rent to 60 days past the end of the devastation that the coronavirus crisis has caused, according to the NY Post.
“The bottom line is tenants need more help,” the mayor said. “There’s a lot the state needs to do and it has to do it quickly.”
On April 10th, DeBlasio ordered NYC’s rent board to freeze rents next year on the city’s regulated apartments. As many as 2 million New Yorkers would gain some economic relief, according to the Post report.
The Post reported that DeBlasio said at a Queens press conference, “I want to see the Rent Guidelines Board act quickly. If you look at the facts, the Big Apple is facing the greatest economic crisis in generations and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers with no livelihood overnight. “I think the facts are clear and we need that rent freeze and we need it now.“We’ll do it quickly in the coming weeks.”
Now, DeBlasio has exhorted the state to allow renters to use security deposits to pay their rent.
“The challenges that landlords are facing right now are real,” DeBlasio said, according to the Post report. “I’m not belittling them, but they pale in comparison to what tenants are facing.”
Tenants can now call 311 to reach a new hotline to get help if they face eviction or other issues as part of a five-point plan to help renters, according to a Daily News report.
“To me, it’s abundantly clear that we need a rent freeze,” de Blasio said, according to the Post report. “There is no reason not to authorize this right now. It’s an emergency action that would help a lot of people.”
The Daily News reported that DeBlasio announced on Friday that the city will spend millions more on a campaign to inform New Yorkers about coronavirus and how best to protect and care for themselves and their families, including robocalls, snail mail, advertisements and tele-town halls.
The rent board estimated a 2.5 to 3.5 percent increase in rent for regulated apartments under one-year leases, according to the Post.
DeBlasio called on the board to meet remotely and formally approve a freeze.
In another development, DeBlasio and city officials have cautioned New Yorkers who might be seeking a way to prevent catching the virus to not ingest or inject household disinfectants into their bodies in any way. On Thursday evening at a White House press briefing, President Trump suggested that perhaps disinfectant and sunlight placed in one’s body may serve as a deterrent for the spreading coronavirus.
The next day the president denied making such statements and said that he meant that comment as a sarcastic question to the hostile “fake news” brigade of journalists who normally attend the conferences.
