New York lawmakers last month extended a pause on evictions through the end of August, but now landlords say the city is ignoring their needs. 

In December, New York state put a pause on evictions for tenants who had lost their job or faced other hardships during the coronavirus pandemic. 

In May, that moratorium was extended to Aug. 31. However, landlords say they’re getting the short end of the stick. 

“What is being looked at is that the pandemic only affects tenants. What about landlords?” said landlord Veronica Gordon. 

Gordon is a landlord in East Flatbush who says she has a tenant who has not paid rent since 2019--evading paying through the court systems. 

Gordon believes that the state law protecting tenants from eviction should require tenants to provide proof of hardship. However, Tenant’s Rights Attorneys like Ellen Davidson say it had to be that way. 

“Yes, there may be a couple of people out there who are taking advantage but if you want to protect the most vulnerable among us, the people without access to technology, the people without immigration status who cannot prove that they lost income, you need a law that is broad-based,” said Davidson. 

Gordon’s lawyer says that as the city rolls back on COVID-19 restrictions, the same should be done with evictions. 

Davidson says that tenants who haven’t been paying rent still have to pay it back once the eviction pause ends. 

“This eviction moratorium stops people from being removed from their home but doesn’t stop at tenants' obligation to pay rent or a landlord's ability to seek that payment,” said Davidson. 

She says ultimately the government needs to make housing more affordable so that neither landlords nor tenants suffer.