Harlem Evictions On The Rise After Moratorium Ends, Records Show

HARLEM, NY — After dropping to virtually zero during the pandemic, the number of people and businesses being evicted around Harlem has steadily climbed in recent months to the highest level since 2020, according to city data.

Across Harlem, a combined 71 households and businesses have been evicted so far in 2022, according to data kept by the Department of Investigation. July saw the most so far, with 22 evictions — the most Harlem has seen in a month since March 2020, when 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 week.

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 Harlem, evictions have been happening throughout the neighborhood: a third-floor tenant on West 119th Street, a fifth-floor resident on East 105th Street, a fourth-floor tenant on Saint Nicholas Terrace.

Businesses, too, have felt it. The Chick'nCone fast food restaurant on Lenox Avenue and West 129th Street was evicted in March, while a dry cleaners a few blocks south near West 115th Street was forced out in February, records show.

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 six evictions that happened in Harlem in 2021.)

In Harlem, evictions still remain well below where they stood before the pandemic — in 2017 alone, at least 1,186 tenants were evicted from their homes in the neighborhood.

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.