Astoria, LIC Evictions On The Rise After Moratorium Ends, Records Show

ASTORIA, QUEENS — After dropping to virtually zero during the pandemic, the number of people and businesses being evicted in Western Queens has climbed in recent months to the highest level since 2020, according to city data.

Across Astoria and Long Island City, at least 26 households and 18 businesses have been evicted so far in 2022, according to data kept by the Department of Investigation.

July alone saw eight evictions — tied along with April and May for the most evictions the neighborhoods have seen in a month since March 2020, before COVID-19 arrived and an eviction moratorium took effect statewide.

But New York's moratorium expired in January, and evictions have steadily risen since then, even as other protections and legal hurdles remain in place. Across the city, legal evictions have increased every month during the first half of 2022, City Limits reported last month.

The real number of evictions is likely even higher, since city marshals sometimes take days or weeks to report an eviction after it is carried out, according to City Limits.

In Astoria and Long Island City, evictions have been happening throughout the neighborhood: a 16th-story tenant on 41st Avenue, a ground-floor resident on 26th Road, a resident of a high-rise tower on Center Boulevard.

Businesses, too, have been hit: a nightclub on Astoria Boulevard and 37th Street and a ground-floor store on 34th Avenue near Northern Boulevard among them.

The trend has not gone unnoticed: Astoria City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán said in an email to constituents on Sunday that her office has seen "an uptick in eviction cases recently."

Cabán has added a resource sheet about tenants' rights to her Council website, where she promised to add more "Know Your Rights guides" in the coming months.

The end of the eviction moratorium coincided unhappily with a huge jump in rent prices as New York's tenants contended with surging demand, limited supply, and the end of the "COVID deal."

Homeless shelters, too, have also seen rising numbers of entries, according to data compiled by City Limits.

"This is exactly what we expected when the moratorium ended and that's an increase in evictions," Judith Goldiner, an attorney at the Legal Aid Society, told the nonprofit news outlet.

The eviction moratorium barred landlords from evicting residents or businesses for non-payment of rent — though evictions for endangering other tenants or breaking the lease terms were still allowed. (That may explain the two evictions that happened in Northwest Queens in 2021.)

In Long Island City and Astoria, evictions still remain well below where they stood before the pandemic — in 2017 alone, at least 334 residents and businesses were displaced, according to city records.

A growing number of tenant advocates are now pushing for the state to pass "Good Cause" eviction — a law that would mostly guarantee a right to lease renewal and cap annual rent increases. The legislation failed to pass the state legislature earlier this year.