Controversy Eviction moratorium
over T&T return
queue while dozens of others await
permission to return home.
Attorney General Faris al Rawi has
also come under fire because the system
had allowed his 21-year-old son, Abraham,
to return home in mid December.
Many believe that he has also received
preferential treatment, a charge his dad
has denied
“My son was out of the country and I
consistently said, this is just something
that I consider repulsive,” he said, noting
that Security Minister Stuart Young
has been working tirelessly to bring
nationals back home in recent months
despite reduced airline flights. “He
has tried to help every single person. I
have witnessed Stuart Young’s constant
agony on trying his very best, trying to
get people back into the country,” the
Guardian reported. Cabinet this week
said the system is being reviewed and
tweaked to make it not only easier to
return home but for increased social
activities and interactions including
larger numbers of people being allowed
to attend funerals and other events.
PM Rowley, meanwhile, said changes
will be made to the system in 2021 but
Caribbean L 12 ife, JANUARY 1-7, 2021
that “is no guarantee that the grumbling
will be eliminated because these restrictions
by their very nature will adversely
affect some people more than others.
Picking on my family or the minister
does not change the fact that once the
border is closed and we are managing
the inflow, there will be enough stories,
grumbling and lies to fill the many
voids,” he told the newspaper.
Several other Caribbean Community
countries have also been struggling to
find the right balance in relation to
opening borders and managing arrivals
but the Trinidad and Tobago cabinet
has been among the strictest and
most conservative maintaining that this
approach has helped to stem the tide of
pandemic infections on the island.
Continued from Page 1
this emergency measure is, it may
ultimately be only a delay, not a prevention,
of a looming mass eviction
crisis if we do not continue to adapt
and provide aid throughout this crisis
and beyond.
“Now the governor – who has been
able to circumvent the legislature for
months and has recently weakened his
own ‘moratorium’ – must immediately
sign this bill into law and provide security
and relief for New Yorkers before
their next rent check is due,” Williams
added.
Sen. Zellnor Myrie, who represents
the 20th Senatorial District in Brooklyn,
said the bill’s passage is “an important
first step toward long-term housing
justice for all.”
Myrie, whose grandmother hailed
from Jamaica, said the Emergency
Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention
Act “stops the clock on all new and
pending evictions for 60 days, and protects
renters facing financial distress as
a result of the pandemic.
“Tenants who have lost income or
employment, have increased family or
healthcare expenses, or cannot afford
to move, will be protected from eviction
until May,” he said. “Renters at
risk of eviction will be provided a simplified,
multi-lingual form to attest to
their hardship to their landlord and
the court.”
Myrie said the new law will also
support small property owners facing
financial hardship by preventing liens
and foreclosures, and automatically
renewing certain property tax benefits
for seniors and people with disabilities.
“This legislation gives tenants the
tools they need to halt eviction proceedings
through the pandemic winter
ahead of us, but our work is not done,”
he said. “I will continue fighting on
behalf of renters and small property
owners, and working to ensure that our
existing crisis is not worsened by a tidal
wave of evictions and foreclosures.
“Today’s legislation is welcome news
for tenants and homeowners facing difficulty
making ends meet during the
pandemic,” Myrie added. “I’m grateful
to my partners and the advocacy community
for making this bill possible.”
Assemblymember Rodneyse
Bichotte, the daughter of Haitian
immigrants, said she voted to extend
housing protections to the New Yorkers
under the sweeping COVID-19 Emergency
Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention
Act (A11181/S9114), which she
co-sponsored.
Among other things, Bichotte, who
represents the 42nd Assembly District
in Brooklyn, said the Act also, among
other things, “makes it more difficult
for banks to foreclose on small property
owners, including those whose tenants
have defaulted on rent payments.
Continued from Page 1
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister,
Dr. Keith Rowley. Photo by Nelson A. King
scheme
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