The Legal Aid Society and housing advocates throughout New York state warned that the latest extension of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Tenant Safe Harbor Act – which had been set to expire January 1st – is still no guarantee against being evicted.

While tenants suffering COVID-related hardships are theoretically protected from being evicted by the moratorium, whether or not a given tenant’s claim of hardship is recognized by the court is a different question, and by no means a settled one.

“Courts are so backed up, many Legal Aid clients don’t even get the chance to argue their case before a judge, said Ellen Davidson, a housing attorney at The Legal Aid Society. “One of my colleagues told me that they were in court representing a tenant who was currently in the hospital with COVID. The judge is not sure that she qualifies as someone who has been harmed by COVID, and she might end up getting evicted, while she’s hospitalized.”