More than 100,000 NYC tenants still awaiting COVID rent relief – Commercial Observer

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Three and a half years into the pandemic, more than 100,000 New York City renters are still waiting for state-administered federal COVID-19 rent relief money, according to data from the office of State Comptroller Thomas DiNapolis.

The five boroughs received the lion’s share of the money that goes to low-income tenants who have been struggling with unpaid rent since March 2020 because New York City has far more rent-burdened tenants than any other part of New York State, and also has the most people waiting for funds.

There are 108,044 tenants in New York waiting for COVID rent relief money, representing 70% of unpaid claims statewide. New York City Housing Authority residents appear to be the majority of tenants who have yet to receive the money, which is typically sent to landlords to cover up to 12 months of unpaid rent, plus up to three months of future payments. Applicants must prove they are low income, have suffered a loss of income due to the pandemic, and owe unpaid rent since March 13, 2020.

And while the Comptrollers Office could not provide the exact number of NYCHA tenants who had applied for pandemic rent relief, it pointed out that city zip codes that include public housing projects account for 79% of unpaid applications.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced in May that NYCHA would get the majority of $391 million in new state funds for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), which covers pandemic-era unpaid rent. NYCHA households had filed 33,000 claims totaling $128 million in back rent, City Limits reported at the time.

Rahul Jain, the New York State Assistant Comptroller, pointed out that the state legislature capped the amount of ERAP funding NYCHA could receive at $128 million, even though the agency needs more. The state Senate estimated NYCHA tenants would likely need $501 million in ERAP rent relief, while the nonprofit Community Service Society of New York put the figure at $589 million.

It seems there is still demand there, Jain said of social housing tenants who need rent relief. [NYCHA] I can’t tell the difference between $128 million and $391 million.

He also noted that there had been an increase in the number of landlords filing non-payment and eviction cases in Housing Court as ERAP protections expired. The program protects tenants from eviction for a year after they file their application, but for many low-income New Yorkers who applied in 2020 and 2021, that year has passed. The state’s ERAP portal closed to new applications in January.

In 2022, the number of non-payment cases in New York Housing Court reached 89,046, up 169% from 2021, the Comptrollers Office found. The statewide, pandemic-era eviction moratorium prevented landlords from initiating new eviction proceedings for nearly two years, from March 2020 to January 2022.

In total, ERAP funding benefited about 186,625 households in New York City, according to the Office of State Comptrollers. On average, renters in the city received $13,289, more than the state average but less than what renters received in most areas of Long Island or the Hudson Valley.

Rebecca Baird-Remba can be reached at [email protected].

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