Ellen Davidson, a staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society, appeared on a Pix11 housing advocate panel to discuss issues surrounding New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s moratorium on evictions, which has now been extended to October 1st.

The extension grants short-term relief for vulnerable renters, but fall short of providing a solution to the rising tide of evictions that threatens millions nationally and approximately 400,000 New York residents who are no longer able to pay their rent due to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 shutdowns.

Davidson warned that without comprehensive, long-term relief from state and federal legislatures, a tidal wave of evictions could produce widespread homelessness, deepening the already historic financial crisis wrought by COVID-19.

“The federal government needs to pass rent relief,” Davidson said. “They’re talking about somewhere between 30 and 40 million people in the United States evicted if we don’t come up with a federal solution. We are not digging ourselves out of this financial crisis if we have hundreds of thousands of families in New York State that are homeless.”

Watch the full video below.