Brittainy Newman / AP ExchangeOne of the laws that the New York Legislature had passed to regulate pandemic evictions has been struck down.A majority of the court ruled that one of these laws was in violation of landlords' rights to due process.The Tenant Safe Harbor Act is still in effect, even though the landlords didn't challenge it.For more stories, visit Insider's homepage.The Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 ruling on August 12 that five New York landlords and one landlords association had been violated by the state's expulsion moratorium. One of the laws provisions was therefore struck down.During the pandemic two laws were passed by the New York Legislature to regulate evictions: The Tenant Safe Harbor Act and the COVID-19 Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2020. According to the order, the court blocked the former, which would have barred any tenant who had filed a financial hardship statement with their landlord from being evicted. It violated the landlord's right to due process."While I respect and value the US Supreme Court as an independent judicial entity, it is disappointing that the injunction issued yesterday invalidates eviction protections to hundreds of thousands of tenants, and denies New Yorkers the still necessary public health measure," Brian Kavanagh, state senator, stated in a press release.Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, Supreme Court Justices, wrote the dissenting opinions. They cited several reasons why they wanted to keep CEEFPA in force, including the fact the state still distributes federal aid to landlords, which would reduce the need for evictions.TSHA was not affected by the order, but all protections under New York's eviction moratorium will expire on August 31. According to a state senator's press release, only 55 New York households were able to receive financial assistance at the end of July. The state still has $2.35 Billion in federal funds and $100 M in state funds to distribute.Insider has the original article.
