New York Governor Kathy Hochul extends eviction moratorium until January 2022

The move comes as a mere $203 million of $2.3 billion in mostly federal aid allocated for the Emergency Rental Assistance program has been disbursed, according to the Daily Mail.

The funds program was approved in April, and opened to applications on June 1.

The US Treasury estimates that 28 percent of New Yorkers behind on rent are still waiting on a response for their application, while a staggering 70 percent have yet to apply.

Governor Kathy Hochul, who has recently replaced the resigned Andrew Cuomo, called a special section of the legislature on Wednesday, warning that a number of New Yorkers could become homeless is evictions restarted after being put in hold through the pandemic.

"We are not going to exacerbate what is already a crisis in terms of the homelessness problem," she said. "We are not going to allow people who through no fault of their own lost income, not able to pay and facing eviction."

A US Census Bureau survey states that as many as 700,000, or 21 percent of New Yorkers, are behind on rent. This totals in nearly $2.3 billion in debt.

Lawmakers adjusted part of the eviction moratorium following an August 12 ruling from the US Supreme Court.

The court removed part of the law that let tenants pause an eviction merely by filling out a form declaring pandemic-related hardships.

They said that landlords should have the ability to challenge a tenants' hardship declaration.

In the new moratorium, landlords will be allowed to contest hardship applications for tenants they believe are not suffering economic hardships in court.

Despite the change, lawmakers and landlord groups say the new changes do not go far enough.

"We are going to ask our attorney to make a motion to enforce the Supreme Court order and to stay the new legislation," Joseph Strasburg from the Rent Stabilization Association, told CBS 2.

"The issue is that we have a ton of property owners many of whom are not wealthy. They're middle-income folks. They are cops, business owners, moms and dads, military veterans, who haven't received rent in almost two years," said State Senator Robert Ortt.

The New York eviction moratorium comes as the Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's nationwide eviction moratorium in August.