New proposed legislation would pause evictions during winter

The bill would halt carrying out residential evictions statewide from November 1st to April 15th

By Brick Underground | February 9, 2026 - 12:30PM

New York City was colder than Antarctica this weekend after extreme wind chill dragged the real-feel temperature to 14 degrees below zero. The death toll from a prolonged period of frigid weather reached 18 on Sunday.

The life-threatening weather added urgency to the Right to Counsel Coalition’s new statewide campaign to pass a winter eviction moratorium in New York State. The legislation would keep tenants in their apartments and out of shelters during the coldest months.

Sponsored by Assembly member Anna Kelles and Senator Jabari Brisport, the bill (A.10121/S.9090) would automatically pause carrying out residential evictions statewide from November 1st to April 15th.

Dangerous winter weather is commonplace across New York “and yet, every year, we continue to evict people into it. This is not new, and it is not acceptable,” said Malika Conner, director of the Right to Counsel Coalition in a statement.

The Right to Counsel NYC Coalition led the campaign to make it a right for tenants to have a lawyer when facing eviction in NYC.

“With increasingly unpredictable weather—warm one day, freezing the next—evicting someone in the winter still leaves them homeless when the cold hits. A winter moratorium makes clear that winter evictions are a public health and moral crisis, and that protecting lives must come first,” Conner said.

According to the coalition, with a winter eviction moratorium, courts remain open, landlords can sue, rent is still owed, but marshal evictions would pause during the coldest months.

The legislation would also protect tenants from harassment and illegal evictions, allow tenants in non-payment cases to remain housed if they resolve their rent arrears during the moratorium period, and require landlords to notify tenants of the winter eviction moratorium in eviction court filings.

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