100+ Faith Leaders Call on Governor and Legislative Leaders to Extend and Amend the NY State Eviction Moratorium

Following the recent Supreme Court decisions striking down the NY State and Federal eviction moratoriums, faith leaders across denomination call on Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Carl Heastie to immediately reconvene the state legislature to amend and extend the eviction moratorium.

Elected Officials, NYC Eviction Marshals and Sheriffs Upstate Who Perform Evictions, and Officers of the New York Police Department,

We, clergy and lay leaders of the many faith communities of the City and State of New York, are imploring you to stop every eviction and eviction case in New York State through the end of June 2022—and to enact a permanent ban on winter evictions.

You are indeed aware that the pandemic has wrought extreme hardship on hundreds of thousands of our neighbors, with at least 830,000 tenant households (representing millions of people) statewide having fallen behind in their rent. We are on the precipice of mass eviction and mass homelessness. New York residents face losing their homes. 

Surely you can recognize your responsibility and refuse to collaborate in the unjust and brutal action of evicting children, women, men—human beings, all made in the image of the divine—from their homes.

Will you live up to that calling? We are united in our faith commitment to love and care for our neighbors, especially the most vulnerable. And it is in that spirit that we appeal to you now. 

Our neighbors have lost loved ones, have become unemployed and are still recovering from the COVID pandemic. ICUs are again filling up with the sick. And we have long failed to provide shelter to all those who are still unhoused and face daily economic terror.

Tenants in our city and state are more than $3.2 billion behind on rent. There are currently more than 225,000 eviction cases pending in New York State’s courts; at least 1.2 million tenant households statewide are not able to pay rent. Even before the pandemic and the collapse of the economy, half of tenants in the city and the state could not afford rent. 

Undocumented workers and people of color have borne the brunt of the pandemic and the economic crisis, and are also most likely to be behind on rent and at risk of eviction. The threat of eviction is everywhere, particularly after the Supreme Court elevated private property over human lives, striking down New York’s last eviction ban and casting untold thousands into the eviction court system, with its many traps, loopholes, and grey areas: allowing landlords to evict even the most vulnerable.

But you can stop every eviction. It is imperative that you act. You probably have members of your own families who share in this predicament. Members of our congregations are certainly facing homelessness if the eviction moratorium is not renewed and expanded.

These are hard times and the path out of this crisis should not be borne alone by those least able to afford it. Pandemic rent debt must be paid by the State and automatically forgiven, and the eviction court dockets must be cleared of cases. 

The $2.7 billion dollars New York State allocated as “rent relief” is disastrously delayed and remains inaccessible to all but a few of the 170,000 tenant households who have applied for it—to say nothing of the millions of households who did not know about this program, did not have the documents the State required to qualify, or could not navigate the three-hour application process.

To this end, we appeal to you: Do not assist landlords seeking to evict people from their homes, but instead, stand with the people of this city and state in their time of need. End all evictions and eviction cases in New York State through the end of June 2022—and abolish eviction into the winter streets forever. 

We call on Governor Hochul, Speaker Heastie, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, State Senator Kavanagh, and Assemblymember Dinowitz to immediately call a legislative session to extend and expand a universal eviction ban in New York State through the end of June 2022, and to meet our demands.

We call on all to join us in the streets to resist every eviction.

Signed,

Cantor Abbe Lyon, Hillel at Ithaca College

Chair Jean Poppei, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany

Deacon Susan Haney, First Presbyterian Church Albany, NY

Dh. Dennis Bohn, Plum Village Lineage Brooklyn, NY (Buddhist)

Director Angela K Warner, Angela K Warner

Doctor of Ministry James W Walkup, Director of Southern Westchester Marriage Counseling

E. Magalene McClarrin, Memorial Presbyterian Church

Father John P. Duffell, Catholic Church

Father John P. Duffell, Church of the Blessed Sacrament

Father John Patrick Martin, Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers

Father Luis Barrios (Episcopal)

Hon. Rev. Dr. Michael Strong, Strong Families Deliverance Ministries Inc.

Howard W. Henry, Jr., University Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, NY

Imam Khabir John McGeehan, Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Community

Ivana Edwards, All Souls Unitarian Church

James Coy Sheehan, Catholic Church

James M. Ercolano, Labor Religion Coalition of New York

John Mudd, Executive Director of Midtown South Community Council

Kevin M Nelson, First United Methodist Church, Schenectady, NY

Marc Greenberg, Executive Director, Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing

Mary Smith, Church Women United in New York State

Minister Chibueze Okorie, Church of Gethsemane (PCUSA)

Minister LaKisha N. Williams, Antioch Baptist Church, Harlem

Ms. Mary Ellen OBoyle, Sisters of Charity, NY

Pastor Bruce Cornwell, Community Reformed Church of Colonie

Pastor Donna Schaper, Orient Congregational Church

Pastor Heather Kirk-Davidoff, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Albany NY

Pastor Kevin E McKenna, Saint Theodore’s

Rabbi Abby Stein, Sacred Space

Rabbi Abi Weber

Rabbi Andrue Kahn, JFREJ Member

Rabbi Barat Ellman, JFREJ Rabbinic Council

Rabbi Brian Fink, Marlene Meyerson JCC, Manhattan

Rabbi David Dunn Bauer, Queer Spiritual Counseling

Rabbi Dr. Daniel Ross Goodman, The Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Rabbi Dr. Jo David

Rabbi Dr. Tsvi Blanchard

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, Hadar

Rabbi Eytan Hammerman, Jewish Community Center of Harrison

Rabbi Guy Austrian, Fort Tryon Jewish Center

Rabbi Heidi Hoover, B’ShERT: Beth Shalom v’Emeth Reform Temple

Rabbi Howard Goldsmith, Congregation Emanu-El of Westchester

Rabbi ​​Irwin Goldenberg

Rabbi Jill Hausman, Actors’ Temple, Congregation Ezrath Israel

Rabbi Jonathan Slater, Institute for Jewish Spirituality

Rabbi Joshua Strom, Congregation B’nai Yisrael

Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann, SAJ-Judaism that Stands for All

Rabbi Lester Bronstein, Bet Am Shalom Synagogue White Plains NY

Rabbi Marc J Margolius, Institute for Jewish Spirituality

Rabbi Margo Hughes-Robinson, (Conservative Movement, Judaism)

Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition

Rabbi Mira, Ammud

Rabbi Miriam Grossman, Kolot

Rabbi Pamela Wax, Westchester Jewish Community Services

Rabbi Rachel Goldenberg, Malkhut

Rabbi Rachel Timoner, Congregation Beth Elohim

Rabbi Steven Kane, Congregation Sons of Israel

Rabbi Susan Falk, The Shul of New York

Rabbinical Student Adam Graubart, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbinical Student Justin Callis, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbinical Student Sierra Fox, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Reverend Alison Quin, Grace Church Millbrook

Reverend David W. Dyson, Lafayette Ave. Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn, NY

Reverend Dr. Amaury Tañón-Santos, Schenectady Community Ministries

Reverend Edwin Chinery (Episcopal)

Reverend Jean-Pierre Seguin (Episcopal)

Reverend Joe Cleveland, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Saratoga Springs

Reverend Kareem Goubran, LMSW, Graffiti Church

ReverendMicah Bucey, Judson Memorial Church

Reverend Posey Krakowsky (Episcopal)

Reverend Amanda Meisenheimer, The Riverside Church

Reverend Andrea Abbott, First Universalist Church of Central Square

Reverend Ashley Birt, Center for Jubilee Practice

Reverend Benjamin Perry, Middle Collegiate Church

Reverend Bertram Johnson, Union Theological Seminary

Reverend Carl Adair, Zion Episcopal Church, Douglaston

Reverend Carmen Hernandez, 1471-73 Watson Ave Resident Council Inc

Reverend Chris Dela Cruz, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Reverend Conrad B. Tillard, Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church

Reverend Cynthia Jackson, Church of the Evangel, Brooklyn NY

Reverend Cynthia Stravers, Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest

Reverend Derrick McQueen, St. James Presbyterian Church

Reverend Dr. Chloe Breyer (Episcopal Church)

Reverend Dr. Liz Theoharis, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary

Reverend Dr. Peter W. Peters, Episcopal Church

Reverend Dr. Richard S. Gilbert

Reverend ​​E. West McNeill, Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS

Reverend Earl Arnold, Presbyterian Church U.S.A.

Reverend Emily Otto, United Church of Christ

Reverend Eric Thomas, Siloam Presbyterian Church

Reverend Frank Morales (Episcopal)

Reverend George Haigler III, New Day Community Worship and Outreach Center

Reverend Joe Paparone, Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS

Reverend Kymberly McNair

Reverend Matthew Dimick, Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone

Reverend Molly Dowell Baum, First Presbyterian Church Albany

Reverend Noel E. Bordador, Episcopal Church

Reverend N. J. L’Heureux, Jr., Queens Federation of Churches

Reverend Sara E. Baron, First United Methodist Church of Schenectady

Reverend Seth Zuiho Segall, White Plains Zen/Boundless Way Zen of Westchester

Reverend Thia Reggio, Astoria First Presbyterian Church

Reverend William Mark Koenig, Presbytery of New York City

Reverend William Spilly, Diocese of Rochester

Senior Pastor Dustin G Wright, Messiah Lutheran Church

Shaista Husain (Muslim)

Sister Danielle Bonetti, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Albany Province

Sister Honora Kinney, Sisters of Saint Joseph

Sister Joan Agro, Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt, New York

Sister Mary Ellen OBoyle, Sisters of Charity, NY

Sister Mary Kay Finneran, Sister of Charity of New York

Sister. Margaret Sikora, Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement

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