A group of six lawmakers from the New York state Senate and Assembly on Monday called for a special session of the Legislature to strengthen the state's ban on evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic following a Supreme Court ruling that blocked part of the measure. 

The lawmakers, — Sens. Julia Salazar and Jabari Brisport and Assembly members Phara Souffrant Forrest, Marcela Mitaynes, Zohran Mamdani, and Emily Gallagher — in a joint statement called for the Legislature to take emergency action to address evictions, the moratorium that's due to expire at the end of the month and push billions of dollars in federal and state aid to tenants and landlords. 

“In light of Friday’s Supreme Court decision we are urging the legislature to reconvene an emergency session to pass a new eviction moratorium," the lawmakers said. "Rent relief distribution has thus far been inadequate, and COVID-19 continues to spread at an exponential rate. We are therefore certain that allowing these tenant protections to lapse will threaten the safety and security of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers."

The Supreme Court last week struck down part of the state's moratorium, siding with a group of New York landlords who had challenged the legality of the provision. Tenants can still go to court and claim a financial hardship due to the pandemic and stay in their homes. 

Nevertheless, the concerns over the moratorium, its pending expiration and the snail's pace in aid distribution for tenants and landlords alike to be made whole has fueled calls for changes. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who will be elevated to governor's office next Tuesday, has called for existing protections to be strengthened. 

Lawmakers left Albany at the end of the legislative session in June; they are not scheduled to return until January. 

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie in an interview on Capital Tonight on Friday said the eviction ban is something lawmakers will have to address, though he did not say whether the Legislature will return to take up any changes.

"I'm very concerned about the Supreme Court's decision that could put lots of families in jeopardy and exposed to eviction," he said. "So I do think it's something that has to be fixed."