Last week, 19 legal service groups wrote a letter urging Fisher to extend the moratorium. The groups included MFY Legal Services, the Legal Aid Society of New York City, Legal Services-NYC and the New York Legal Assistance Group.
The organizations said that based on their experiences, it is obvious that many New Yorkers are not equipped to deal with being evicted in addition to handling the effects of Sandy.
About 40,000 New Yorkers were displaced by the storm, said Kevin Cremin, director of litigation for disability and aging rights for MFY Legal Services.
"Also, we have a serious concern about the capacity of the shelters and where more homeless people would go at this point," Cremin said. "They were filled to capacity before the storm and overwhelmed after it."
Fisher said she had not seen the letter from the legal services groups before issuing her directives.
The Rent Stabilization Association, which represents landlords in New York City, did not return calls for comment.
Also yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that Sandy ran up a $42 billion bill for New Yorkers. The cost includes $32 billion for repairs and restoration, but also an additional $9 billion for mitigation of damage and for preventive measures for the next disastrous storm, the AP reported.
@|Joel Stashenko can be contacted at jstashenko@alm.com.
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