Eviction 4 Times More Likely In NYC's COVID Hotspots, Report Says

NEW YORK, NY — Renters in neighborhoods hardest-hit by the coronavirus are much more likely to face eviction than the rest of New York City, a disparity that could push thousands of the city's most vulnerable residents from their homes as early as May, according to a new report.

A recent analysis of state records by the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, first reported in the New York Times, found that New York City landlords are seeking evictions nearly four times more often in the largely Black and Latino communities that have borne the brunt of the pandemic.

Those neighborhoods, with the top 25 percent of COVID-19 death rates, have seen 15,517 eviction filings since March 2020, while neighborhoods with the lowest death rates have only had 4,224 cases, the study found. The filings come despite a pause on many evictions from the state.

“When we talk about systemic racism, this is how it shows up,” Lucy Block, the author of the report, told the Times. “It’s the scale to which landlords are still trying to evict people, and how much those evictions are concentrated in the same communities being decimated by Covid-19.”

About 68 percent of residents in the hardest hit ZIP codes were people of color, according to the Times. That is more than twice than in the least affected areas.

Nearly all of the top 10 ZIP codes with the highest rate of eviction filings are in the Bronx, including the top ZIP code 10468, where 51 per 1,000 residential units were involved in an eviction case. The top 10 also includes Corona, Queens, an early epicenter of the virus, and a ZIP code in Staten Island.

The hardest-hit neighborhoods are also home to a large number of the city's essential workers.

A record year of rent cuts due to a sluggish real estate market hasn't reached those renters, the Times noted. About 96 percent of market-rate rental listings in New York City are still unaffordable to most essential workers, according to a study by StreetEasy.

Researchers hope the recent $1.9-trillion federal stimulus package, which includes $2.3 billion in rental assistance for New York State, could make a dent, but warn it will depend on how the money is disbursed.

“If there isn’t enough money put toward canceling rent, a couple of months from now, we’re going to be in the exact same position,” said Malika Conner, the director of organizing for the Right to Counsel NYC Coalition.

Read the full New York Times story here.