March 29, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
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Queens senator calls for rent suspension
for residential and commercial tenants
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Senate Deputy Leader Michael
Gianaris is calling for a 90-day
suspension of residential and commercial
rent for tenants as well as
small businesses that have been
impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
After Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced
a 90-day moratorium on
evictions on Friday, March 20, Gianaris
took to Twitter to address
the issue of rent payments.
“Eviction moratorium is good
but tenants without income won’t
be able to pay accumulating rent
in 90 days and will then face eviction,”
he wrote. “We need to #CancelRent
for 90 days.”
Gianaris, who represents Senate
District 12 — which includes
Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside
and Ridgewood — is drafting
legislation to enact a proposal to
provide residential and commercial
tenants with 90 days of rent
forgiveness if they lost their work
or had to close their business due
to COVID-19.
As a result of the outbreak and
the state’s precautionary stay-athome
order, thousands of New
Yorkers and people in the tri-state
area have already lost their jobs.
Many other Queens lawmakers
have joined Gianaris’ call for
a rent freeze, including Assemblywoman
Aravella Simotas, Senator
Jessica Ramos and Congresswoman
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“Two-thirds of New York City
residents are renters. Now that
New York State has issued a mortgage
moratorium, we must also
enact a rent moratorium to prevent
mass displacement,” Ocasio-
Cortez wrote on Twitter. “Relief
and protecting from displacement
shouldn’t just be for homeowners
and the wealthy. It should be for
NYC IN NEED
New York City needs more supplies as Queens leads the city in coronavirus cases.
SEE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE INSIDE. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
everyone.”
Last week, Queens
Congresswoman Carolyn
Maloney led a request for a
moratorium on all foreclosures
and evictions with
a letter signed by 106 Congress
members.
The letter called for the
immediate, nationwide
moratorium on all foreclosures
and evictions from
properties owned, insured
or overseen by the Department
of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD), the
Federal Housing Administration
(FHA), the Department
of Veterans Affairs
(VA) and the Department
of Agriculture (USDA) and
federally backed agencies
including Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac.
Shortly after that letter
was sent, the White
House’s administration
announced HUD would
suspend foreclosures and
evictions insured by FHA
for at least 60 days.
Cuomo’s moratorium
announcement came afterward
and provided more
guidelines, such as waiving
mortgage payments
based on financial hardship,
no negative reporting
to credit bureaus, grace period
for loan modification,
no late payment fees or
online payment fees, and
postponing or suspending
foreclosures.
While Gianaris praised
Cuomo’s leadership and
said New York is doing an
“excellent job of managing
this crisis,” he believes
more needs to be done.
“The devastation
caused by coronavirus
will be far-reaching and
long-lasting,” he stated.
“We must stay on top of
the fast-changing consequences
of our efforts to
contain the virus, and the
millions of tenants in our
state cannot be left behind.
Suspending rents is
a critically important step
to help New Yorkers survive
this unprecedentedly
difficult time.”
Vol. 98 No. 13
UPDATED EVERY DAY AT QNS.COM
/QNS.COM
