Homeowners hold government criticism as rent relief funds arrive

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Photo illustration by OTDA Commissioner Michael Hein (OTDA, iStock)

Apparently the checks arrive on Friday.

It was then that long-awaited rent relief payments reached a Bronx landlord’s bank account with over $ 1 million in arrears on the first on August 6, a few more on Friday the 13th and two more. last week.

Emails meant to accompany payments detailing tenant debts the money resolved didn’t reach her inbox until the following Monday, another delay for a program tainted with delays.

But now that New York homeowners know the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance program makes payments, they’re reluctant to criticize other issues. Many are hoping that if they bite their tongue, the funds will flow in without further delay and that they can finally wash their hands of 17 months of growing debt.

The Bronx owner, who still has 82 cases pending, has agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity.

If I say how incompetent they are, he said of the State Office for Temporary Help and People with Disabilities, which runs the program, I don’t want them to accuse us of their incompetence. .

Initially, the landlord submitted claims for the 91 tenant arrears under one management company, as the portal indicated. Then, at the end of July, OTDA informed him that they could not find the account and that the landlord would have to resubmit documents and go to the back of the line.

Finally, another representative clarified that the landlord would have to resubmit the documents for each tenant under a separate email address affiliated with each LLC.

The owner was forced to hire additional staff to file the claims. A few weeks later, he received his first payment. But during the wait, the owner learned that another owner he knew had submitted claims under a single business name and had already received checks for 80 percent of his properties.

I’m a little frustrated when we did the right thing the first time around and they said no you have to do it the other way around, owner said. During the wait, more and more tenants have stopped paying their rent in the hope that the PIU will cover their debts, he said.

In a hearing last week, OTDA Commissioner Michael Hein blamed the distribution delays in part on the owner’s lack of commitment.

Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, a homeowner’s group, said he’s heard from many homeowners who have received funds and don’t want to risk their chances of getting their due by talking about issues.

One owner told me categorically that I was worried about being quoted in a story because I was worried about the ramifications that OTDA would stop processing my checks, Martin said. They don’t want to be seen as a gift horse in the mouth.

Martin said homeowners’ concerns about vindictive state agencies are not new. Other than anecdotes about unnecessary reps, he has never seen proof that such concerns are valid, he said.

Homeowners’ mistrust of the approval process likely stems from the lack of transparency of programs and changing guidelines. Landlords and tenants have relied on infrequent and confusing status updates like Accept With Risk to figure out where their requests are.

It’s very confusing, said Joanna Wang, a landlord in Brooklyn who received money for one of her tenants in early August. If they just had a flowchart or a caption of the meaning of each status, that would be helpful for people.

While delays have hampered nationwide relief deployments, New York was able to drop from 50th to sixth in the country in payments by handing out just 20% of their pot, some owners consider the issues with the portal to l ‘State as particularly egregious.

David Lochow, a Syracuse owner who requested help through a relief portal launched by Onondaga County two months before the United States, said that although his wait was about four months longer, the application process had gone smoothly.

Oh my god New York state I’m so happy for the Onondagas site, Lochow said. It was very simple, simple checkboxes. Really easy to cross,

And the customer service was helpful, to boot, he said. When the portal reported an issue with an app, they called them to ask for additional documents. A week later the check was in her mailbox.

City owners using ERAP, meanwhile, only heard of the problems if they logged into the portal and noticed an error message. Wong said that is the only reason she was able to get funds.

Landlords see the successful rollout of payments as a possible turning point for tenant relationships strained by the pandemic.

So far, the money Wong has received has covered his tenants’ rent and three months before a stamp that has allowed him to work out a payment plan. The tenant will pay a reduced rent over the three months covered by the ERAP in order to reduce his payments for the following year.

Now she is able to put money aside for future rent and manage her budget for next year, Wong said.

Others, like the Bronx owner, will be able to lower property taxes and pay for repairs they have had to delay. As long as the money keeps flowing.

Contact Suzannah Cavanaugh

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