Susan Arbetter is reporting for Capital Tonight the New York state Senate and Assembly passed a four-month extension of the state’s eviction moratorium that expired on May 1. If signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo, the moratorium will protect tenants through August 31. The law requires tenants who were negatively impacted by COVID-19 to file a hardship declaration. That would then give them time to apply for relief from the state’s rent relief fund. The bill sponsor is Senate Housing Chairman Brian Kavanagh. “The COVID-19 numbers in New York continue to be stubbornly high throughout the state and we need public health measures like the eviction and foreclosure moratorium to keep New Yorkers safe, and ultimately to get past this terrible pandemic as soon as possible,” Kavanagh said. Both the Assembly Republican conference and many landlord organizations expressed criticism of the moratorium extension. Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay said in a statement the vote to extend the moratorium was harmful to both landlords and tenants and severely limits the ability of already struggling small property owners to recover from the economic damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "This unsustainable, short-sighted policy will lead to a drastic decline in affordable housing options as landlords face foreclosure or stop renting altogether,” Barclay said. Read the full story at nystateofpolitics [dot] com.