(Reuters) – The New York City ban on housing evictions will expire Saturday. This is a significant economic aid that was in place before the pandemic began and sets the scene for landlords trying to expel low-income tenants.

New York instituted an eviction moratorium during the COVID-19 crisis. The moratorium was extended several times even after a federal moratorium and eviction bans were vacated in other states.

Officials from the state and the city expressed concerns this week over the potential impact of lifting the moratorium. They estimated that approximately 500,000 New Yorkers would need housing assistance at a time in which the Omicron variant was rapidly spreading.

Ellen Davidson of the Legal Aid Society said, “It’s going be profound in New York.” We expect case filings to explode, and housing courts to struggle to function as they used to before COVID.

Although landlords might be quick to expel tenants, Governor Kathy Hochul stated this week that renters can avoid being evicted by applying for rental relief programs, even though they have been exhausted.

Eric Adams of New York City joined Hochul to call for federal funding. Adams claimed that this is the most populous US city and hasn’t received enough federal rent relief.

Adams launched an information campaign for tenants to remind them of their rights. The mayor made it clear that landlords cannot lock tenants out their houses and offered legal help for all New Yorkers.

Princeton University’s EvictionLab has collected data from 31 cities and found that 81.530 New York City landlords have filed eviction petitions.

The number of these cases that would move forward was not clear. It wasn’t known how many would be resolved and how many would arise.

Davidson stated that New York is more vulnerable than other states due to its high number of renters. Many of these are from low-income families. The federal relief program that was based more on renters than population, she claimed had “shortchanged the state”.