BY KEVIN DUGGAN
After the statewide ban on
all evictions expired over the
weekend and as housing court
reopened Monday, hundreds of
tenants and advocates gathered
outside a Downtown Brooklyn
courthouse calling on Gov. Andrew
Cuomo and Mayor Bill de
Blasio to offer relief to renters.
“Cuomo and de Blasio, they
have the power to provide relief
to the most vulnerable in New
York but they have decided not
to,” said Jake Gorr, a Bushwickbased
organizer with the Full
Time Tenant Union.
Gorr’s group — which advocates
for tenants who rent from
Full Time Management, a company
overseeing properties in
the northern Brooklyn neighborhood
and nearby — was
joined at the June 22 demonstration
by the Crown Heights
Tenant Union, advocacy group
Housing Justice for All, and
other local tenant groups.
Protesters gathered outside
Kings County Civil Court
on Livingston and Jay streets
around 8:30 am, demanding
that city and state offi cials cancel
rent. The demonstration
comes as virtual hearings resume
COURIER L 16 IFE, JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2020
citywide, and tenants
worry that landlords will fl ood
housing courts with eviction
proceedings.
Until June 20, landlords
could not legally evict residential
and commercial tenants
under an executive order
signed by Cuomo in March, as
the COVID-19 pandemic left
millions of New Yorkers jobless
and unable to pay rent.
Cuomo extended that moratorium
until August 20, but only
for those who suffered from fi -
nancial hardship from the coronavirus,
in a executive order
Sarah Guillet, an organizer with the Flatbush Tenant Coalition, helps lead a rally outside Brooklyn’s housing
court on June 22 to demand a halt on evictions and a cancellation of rent. Photo by Paul Frangipane
Gorr criticized for putting the
onus on tenants to prove that
they couldn’t pay because of the
pandemic.
“They’re openly vague and
they ultimately put the burden
of proof on the tenant,” the tenant
advocate said of Cuomo’s
moratoriums. “It’s going to create
confusion and panic.”
The city’s Rent Guidelines
Board, the nine-member entity
tasked with setting the rents for
some 1 million rent-stabilized
apartments in the Five Boroughs,
froze rent for one-year
leases of those units on June 17,
Curbed reported.
But those tenants still have
to pay rent and landlords of unregulated
apartments can still
up rates in the coming months,
putting hundreds of thousands
at the risk of losing their home,
Gorr warned.
“There are a lot of vulnerable
people who have no back up
plan, they fall on the street and
have a higher chance to catch
COVID because they have no
place to shelter in place,” he
said. “People are choosing between
buying groceries and
rent, while landlords here are
acting like none of this is happening.”
He and fellow activists are
focusing their aim on city and
state legislators to pass rent
cancellation, taking their inspiration
from the upstate city
of Ithaca, where municipal legislators
voted to ask the state
to allow local authorities to
forgive three months rent, reported
the Ithaca Voice.
“This is not going to be our
last demonstration,” Gorr said.
“We’re going to continue to tell
state and local politicians what
we want.”
Looking for
a lifeline
Activists rally for rent relief
ARE YOU
ONE OF THE
BEST?
WE KNOW YOU’RE
NODDING YES.
DIME BEST OF BROOKLYN 2021
NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN
BESTOFBK.COM
(718) 260-2554
WE REPAIR & BUILD COMPUTERS
Austin Air Purifiers • Air Conditioners
WITH COUPON ONLY. EXPIRES JULY 31, 2020.
We
Are
Open
/BESTOFBK.COM