Tenants hold rally ahead of eviction moratorium’s expiration

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — New York’s eviction moratorium ends on Tuesday.

On Monday, the Rochester City-wide Tenant Union gathered outside of the Hall of Justice to demand long-term protections for renters.

The eviction moratorium was enacted to help those struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. These tenants are not looking for an extension.

They’re asking for better protections including: No eviction from homes that don’t have a certificate of occupancy, giving tenants the right to an attorney when they face eviction situations and protections against what they call excessive rent increases.

"I mean I think there are gonna be a lot of evictions filed and then it’ll be a long time before they get to court,” said Don Chesworth, an attorney at Tully Rinkey. “I mean it’s gonna be at least 30 days. And during that time hopefully a lot of this money that was allocated to the state, some $2.4 billion will be flowing out to the tenants so that they can pay the landlords."

Rochester City Council is set to vote on a local law to give more protections to tenants in two weeks.