BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
As New Yorkers are still reeling for
the economic impact of the novel
coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill
de Blasio called on Albany to extend the
state’s eviction moratorium until August.
In March, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued
a statewide moratorium on evictions
that expired the past weekend. Now, there
are only eviction protections for New Yorkers
eligible for unemployment or who have
experienced fi nancial hardship because of
the virus. Those that qualify will remain
protected until August 20. It is unclear how
courts will decide who is protected under
the extended moratorium though.
Housing rights groups project that between
50,000 and 60,000 cases could be
fi led over the next few days now that New
York City housing courts have partially
opened, according to The New York Times.
“So many people are hurting, so many
people just don’t have money for rent.
Keeping a roof over their head is crucial
right now,” said de Blasio on June 26. ”
Anyone who can’t pay the rent should not
PHOTO BY ED REED/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE
Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Plenty of pain in unpopular NYC budget
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
The new $88 billion New York City
budget came down to the wire this
year, approved by the City Council
just moments before the midnight June 30
deadline. And it came with a lot of pain.
Hammered out between the City Council
and Mayor Bill de Blasio, the municipal
budget for the 2021 fi scal year that began
July 1 slashes $7 billion in spending, and
steers away up to a billion dollars in resources
from the NYPD toward youth and
education programs.
The budget also includes $1 billion in
labor savings with the layoffs of 22,000
municipal workers this fall still on the table
if the city and unions reps can not come to
an agreement.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson
acknowledged the difficult nature of
forming the budget during the COVID-19
pandemic and current movement toward
ending police brutality and racial injustice
across the United States.
Johnson acknowledged the disappointment
of some lawmakers who sought
a deeper cut from the NYPD budget —
noting that he, too, believed it didn’t go
far enough. Nevertheless, he believes
additional changes will come as the city
embarks on reinventing the NYPD in the
months to come.
“We are going to reimagine policing
De Blasio calls on state to extend
eviction moratorium until August
be evicted period.”
De Blasio called for a full eviction moratorium
through August 20 and for the state
Protesters camped outside City Hall park on June 30, 2020 awaited to hear
details about the city budget, as they sought to defund the NYPD.
in New York City, and we’re not going to
stop until we get there,” the speaker said. “I
believe we can rise to the greatest challenge
of our time, and become the city I know
we can be…. A New York that ends police
brutality, school segregation and housing
segregation. A New York that protects our
most vulnerable and picks up our bothers
when they’ve fallen.”
The budget deal de Blasio outlined
Tuesday afternoon comes out to $88.1 billion
in spending, a slight increase from the
previously proposed $87.3 billion plan. But
place tenants who miss rent on a year-long
payment plan to make up for back rent once
they are able to work.
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
both plans represent a dramatic reduction
from the original $95.3 billion spending
plan that de Blasio announced in January.
Weeks later, the city became gripped
by the coronavirus pandemic, resulting
in widespread shutdowns that tanked
the economy and forced the city to start
tightening its belt.
Then, in May and June, protests broke
out across the city following the policeinvolved
murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Advocates called upon de Blasio and
the City Council to “defund” the NYPD
Some advocates argue that this proposal
is just a way for de Blasio to push off an
eviction crisis until he is out of offi ce.
About 30 % of low-income tenants use
50 percent of their income to pay rent, according
to Ellen Davidson, staff attorney
for The Legal Aid Society. And roughly 50
% of low-income tenants use 30 % of their
salary to pay.
Davidson theorizes that if tenants are
given 12 months to pay back unpaid rent
those in a lower income bracket would need
to use all of their income to pay rent for a
year to become current. This unrealistic
expectation would exacerbate fi nancial
hardships resulting in evictions and sending
thousands to housing court.
“It’s like he is saying to them, ‘you are
on your own’,” said Davidson.
De Blasio again asked Washington to
step in and give full rental support and to
prevent foreclosures.
and move resources toward enrichment
programs benefi tting communities in need.
De Blasio announced that the budget
contains $430 million in cuts and $537
million in shifted funds from the NYPD’s
capital funding. Now, $115 million of those
funds will be used to provide Summer
Youth Programming to 100,000 young
people. Initially, de Blasio’s 2021 budget
had proposed slashing Summer Youth
Programming entirely.
Another $116 million will go towards
education, $134 million to family and
social services. Of the funds that will be
diverted, $450 million will be shifted from
the NYPD to New York Housing Authority
and Parks youth recreation centers and $87
million to NYCHA broadband expansion
effort.
The mayor confi rmed that the city will
cancel the upcoming July class of NYPD offi
cers lowering police headcount by 1,163.
The city will reduce overtime expenditures
for NYPD offi cers by $296 million with reducing
non-personnel costs and contracts.
De Blasio added that the city will transfer
NYPD crossing guard and homeless outreach
responsibilities.
“This is real redistribution, this is taking
resources and putting them where they are
needed most with a particular focus on our
young people,” de Blasio told reporters on
Tuesday. “It fi ts what we have been trying
to do for years.”
With reporting by Robert Pozarycki
Schneps Media July 2, 2020 3