The Legal Aid Society emphasized the importance of federal relief measures to keep New Yorkers – who have been among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns – safe and in their homes.

Experts estimate that at least 40,000 households in the five boroughs are already at severe risk of eviction if the partial moratorium currently in place ever lifts — and that hundreds of thousands more New Yorkers are behind on their rent and bills due to the economic havoc caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“New Yorkers are in dire need of the $1.3 billion in rent relief which would be allocated for New York State in the stimulus package,” said Judith Goldiner, the top lawyer at The Legal Aid Society. “Without that money New York tenants face a bleak New Year.”