Attorneys from The Legal Aid Society are featured in a new piece by Law360 detailing the struggles faced by New York City housing attorneys in a year that the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns produced widespread loss of jobs and wages, leading to the prospect of a level of mass-evictions not seen in decades.

While tenant attorneys and advocates say the extremely low number of evictions last year was a victory, massive challenges remain to ensure that struggling New Yorkers will continue to remain in their homes.

“It’s a great result but it was incredibly hard fought,” said Ellen Davidson, staff attorney with The Legal Aid Society. “It wasn’t as if in March we got an eviction moratorium for a year that had everyone feeling secure for a year.”

“We’ve been very, very busy,” said Sateesh Nori, Attorney-in-Charge of Legal Aid’s Queens housing office. “Also, the law has changed so many times, and it’s been a full-time job just to keep up with that and also to provide good information to people.”