New York instituted the eviction moratorium in March 2020 by then-governor Andrew Cuomo and has been regularly extended since, but current Gov. Kathy Hochul has declined to do. 

The critical economic support program was put in place at the start of the pandemic. Its ending sets the stage for a possible rush by landlords to try to oust low-income renters. 

State and city officials expressed concern earlier this week about the impact of ending the moratorium, estimating that 500,000 New Yorkers needed housing aid at a time when the fast-spreading Omicron variant continued to upend social and economic life.

Protesters took to the streets of the Big Apple on Friday demanding the extension of a moratorium on rental evictions. 

'It's unacceptable to start eviction proceedings against 250,000 people in the state of New York, when it's winter. And there's a pandemic still going on. It's just unacceptable,' said protest organizer Sarah Lazuy.

'You cannot allow a moratorium to lapse in the middle of winter, during a COVID surge,' said Jumaane Williams, a former Brooklyn council member and himself a candidate for the post of governor.    

When it was first instituted, New York was the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in the United States. Extensions occurred even as a federal eviction ban and moratoriums in other states lapsed.