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Evictions During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thousands of renters in New York City currently are protected by the State moratorium or CDC guidance to halt evictions are facing the impending end of the moratorium on May 1, 2021.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that over 30 million Americans may be at risk of losing their homes in the new year if no new action is taken.

In New York City, many renters were already in a precarious position prior to the pandemic, with many low-income households putting a significant portion of their income towards their rent and lack sufficient savings or emergency funds to carry them through missed work or lost wages.

There are currently 14,000 active eviction warrants posed to move forward following the lifting of the moratorium. Thousands of New Yorkers may be in need of assistance who are facing eviction, losing their housing and entering the shelter system.

The Committee seeks a plan from the Department of Social Services for the upcoming lifting of the moratorium and potentially significant influx of clients.


Unemployment in NYC

A recent report of the Poverty Tracker, published by Robinhood.org and Columbia University found that nearly half of all New Yorkers lost employment income at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and that those affected were already likely to be facing poverty or material hardship.

Unemployment rates for New York City were 10.8% higher in 2020 than 2019 for the month of November.

While rates increased significantly across all boroughs, in the Bronx, rates were the highest with 15%.

Unemployment Rate by Borough November 2019 vs November 2020

Data Source: Monthly Borough Labor Force Data

Unemployment Rate Change

Unemployment rates in 2020 started below 2019 rates. Once a New York State stay-in-place measures began in March 2020, unemployment increased to 15% in April, peaking to 20% in June and still remaining high with 12% in November.

Monthly Unemployment Rate in NYC 2019 vs 2020

Data Source: NYC Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate history


Data Sources and Info

All data shown is from the most recently available sources as of January 2021.

Unemployment
Rent Burden
Evictions
  • NYC Evictions
    Executed evictions data is available at the zipcode level and daily from January 2017 to the present. Due to the moratorium, there has been a halt to evictions starting in March 2020.
  • NYC Housing Court Filings
  • Eviction Filing data is also available at the zipcode level and daily from January 2016 to the present.

Homelessness

For feedback, comments, and questions please email Data@council.nyc.gov.

Created by the NYC City Council Data Team.