A federal judge struck down an eviction moratorium that throws New York renters another lifeline - and help may be on the way for some small landlords as well.

Howie Ravikoff is a Port Chester small landlord who says he is now out hundreds of thousands of dollars because some of his tenants haven't paid rent in months - and others in over a year.

"Many tenants are completely ignoring their obligation," he says. "They think, 'The landlord can't evict me, why should I bother paying?'"

Landlords will have to wait even longer to have the courts help them collect unpaid rent as New York just extended its eviction moratorium through Aug. 31.

"We in the state have rightfully done and paid a lot of attention to tenants," says Sen. James Skoufis. "But the small landlords have been largely overlooked in my opinion."

Skoufis co-sponsored a bill that just passed both chambers that will provide some financial relief to small landlords like Ravikoff - if they can show they've tried everything to help their tenants apply for assistance to pay rent.

"The landlord can apply, they themselves can submit an application for assistance to get the help they desperately need," says Skoufis.

The bill allows small landlords to dip into the $100 million emergency rental assistance program - now only available to tenants.

"They still have bills to pay," says Skoufis.

"There is no doubt people are impacted, we are impacted as a business, people are impacted as individuals in their home, there's gotta be a better balance," says Ravikoff.

Sen. Skoufis says landlords with fewer than 20 units will be given priority for financial assistance. He expects the state to begin accepting applications by the end of this month.