Attorneys at The Legal Aid Society applauded the news that thousands of New York City households have submitted hardship documents to stay eviction proceedings, as reported by the Queens Daily Eagle.

The number marks a significant increase since February when just 2,300 New York City households had submitted the hardship forms. The low number of submissions concerned advocates and lawmakers, who launched an outreach campaign to motivate tenants to file the documents.

“When the numbers were first reported as being so low, there was a real concern that we have this law to really help people facing a hardship and the information wasn’t going out,” said Ellen Davidson, a staff attorney at The Legal Aid Society.

“The fact that we have a tenfold increase in about a month indicates we’re getting the information out to people most impacted by the pandemic and are interested in trying to save their homes.”

For more information about completing and submitting a Hardship Declaration click here.