Crystal Surdyk, front, speaks to council members Brent Sheldon, R-Ward 1, and Marie Carrubba, D-Ward 4 and Housing Committee chairwoman, during Monday’s Housing Committee meeting. P-J photo by John Whittaker

Housing code cases will begin to be heard in City Court on Friday, Jan. 21.

Marie Carrubba, D-Ward 4 and Housing Committee chairwoman, asked Crystal Surdyk, city development director, for an update on Housing Court. Cases dealing with code enforcement have typically been heard on Fridays, but Housing Court cases have been in a holding pattern due to COVID-19.

“Right now we’re hearing the judge will hear 15 cases, which is an increase by five, which is great,” Surdyk said. “Then as they continue to catch up, they’ve already been very communicative what’s on those lists and crossed some off and added some on. We have a very full schedule for (Jan. 21) and we’re about full for the following week.”

Housing Court will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Fridays as it starts back up, but additional Housing Court dates could be scheduled. Limited Housing Court hours was a concern of Carrubba’s.

“That’s the goal,” Surdyk said. “Until he really has acclimated and gets a hold of where things stand, he hasn’t increased the number of days as of yet.”

Carrubba spoke several times Monday about the end of the state’s eviction moratorium on Friday. According to the Albany Times Union, there are roughly 225,000 eviction cases active across the state — 200,000 of which are from non-payment. That’s about 75,000 more than the total number of eviction cases before the COVID-19 pandemic began and only includes cases filed in city courts, not town and village courts.

“It’s going to be difficult for individuals that have been renting from landlords who want to go to court,” Carrubba said. “That’s only going to add to the frustration of not being able to get rent payments and not being able to get any satisfaction. Now I can go to court and I can start the process.”

Surdyk said landlords have been able to file for eviction during the moratorium for most reasons except for non-payment. A recent court case in New York County forced the state to reopen its Emergency Rental Assistance Program by Tuesday. Forcing the Office of Temporary Disability Assistance to accept additional applications could provide an additional stay of eviction proceedings against tenants who apply. Applications can be filed by visiting otda.ny.gov/programs/emergency-rental-assistance.

“There is rental assistance that is also going to be available through the state,” Surdyk said. “That was just announced in the last couple of days. With the new announcement I don’t know what changes the state may have made or not made to the system. But it’s essentially the same program, they just reopened the application, so I think the same challenges exist. If there is not documentation that there is a lease in place and there’s rent that has not been paid and income that has been lost — those challenges are going to continue to exist.”

The state OTDA is responsible for the administration of money under ERAP, which was established via legislation 2021. Since its creation, ERAP has paid $1.25 billion in rent arrears for 100,000 families and approved an additional $770 million to pay the arrears of an additional 62,000 families whose landlords have not yet completed paperwork needed for release of the payments. The Legal Aid Society said last week that some 400,000 New York families remain behind on their rent, but did not apply for ERAP before the portal closed. Although New York state has spent or committed all its current ERAP funds, it will be eligible to apply for additional funding this spring from an $18 billion national pool of unspent ERAP funds.

“I had not heard anything and I did not get any calls or anyone expressing any frustration as they tried to use this,” Carrubba said. “I know the other system for tenants was a little bit unwieldy with uploading documents and making it very difficult if you didn’t have a computer. You couldn’t do it over the phone. Maybe that’s a good sign that people are getting through and being successful because if they weren’t I think we would be getting complaints or calls about it that people are trying to apply.”