The Legal Aid Society called on New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie to implement an indefinite eviction moratorium, as reported by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

This call comes in response to remarks made by Anthony Cannataro, Administrative Judge of New York City Civil Court, on a zoom call with stakeholders where he confirmed that the New York State Office of Court Administration (OCA) will not extend the eviction moratorium past October 1, 2020, leaving this matter up to Governor Cuomo and the Legislature.

“Without action, thousands of families from across the state will face inevitable eviction come October, losing their homes just in time for the expected second wave of COVID-19,” said Judith Goldiner, Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society.

“Aside from the host of moral reasons demanding action, from a policy perspective, allowing evictions to proceed will undoubtedly perpetuate the spread of COVID-19, as families will flood crowded homeless shelters,” Goldiner continued. “This will erode the sacrifices that have been made in New York to contain the virus. We call on Governor Cuomo and the Legislature to act at once.”