Fred Thiele Says CARES Act Not Enough for Mortgage Relief in NY

State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. (I, D, WF, REF – Sag Harbor), representing Eastern Suffolk in District 1, sent out a statement on Tuesday, April 21 about the need for further mortgage relief legislation in NY following the COVID-19 pandemic and the CARES Act.

Thiele wrote:

Yesterday [Monday, April 20], Congresswoman Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City), State Senator Brian Kavanaugh (D-Manhattan) and State Senator Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach) published an op-ed in Newsday calling for federal and state legislation to provide additional mortgage support to New Yorkers.

The recently-passed Federal CARES Act provides the option to delay payments on federally-backed mortgages up to 180 days during a period of “forbearance.” As noted in the op-ed, this measure does not provide assistance to New Yorkers whose mortgages are not federally owned or backed. Additionally, Governor Cuomo last month issued an Executive Order to provide 90-day mortgage relief to mortgage borrowers impacted by the virus, with mortgages from state-regulated lenders. This measure only provides temporary relief, as borrowers will have to make up for the missed payments at the end of this period.

I agree with the position taken by the Congresswoman and both State Senators that more needs to be done on behalf of New Yorkers that are in desperate need of real mortgage relief. This is only becoming more certain as we continue to see the economic ramifications of the COVID-19 outbreak. The op-ed advocates for the passage of legislation at the federal and state level to delay payments for a period of 90-days. These payments would then be added onto the end of the loan term, instead of unfairly expecting borrowers to pay back missed payments while we are still in the midst of this outbreak and are anticipating long-term economic consequences.

We must do everything in our power as legislators to mitigate those impacts on our constituents, and providing mortgage relief is a necessary step toward that end. Legislation of this nature will have my full support if brought before me for consideration during the 2020 Session, and I will continue to support measures to protect the health, safety and economic interests of my constituents.

The full op-ed can be found in Newsday, here.