According to a new Wall Street Journal report, the new housing reform laws enacted by the state earlier this year may already be paying off for tens of thousands of New York City renters, as the number of eviction cases filed by landlords has plummeted.

The analysis found that since the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 was signed into law on June 14, eviction cases against city tenants for nonpayment of rent is down by more than 35,000, compared with the same period in 2018, a drop of 46%. It seems the decline was steepest for eviction cases brought by landlords against tenants who fell behind on rent payments, and that New York landlords appear to be giving tenants more time to pay.

“Fewer cases are good for everyone. They are good for tenants and good for landlords because no one thinks going to housing court is a good thing,” said Judith Goldiner, Attorney-in-Charge of the Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society.