$125M in state funding for small landlord rent relief: Too little, too late?
ALBANY, N.Y. » New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced that $125 million in state funding is available to aid landlords that couldn’t participate in the New York State Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) due to a federal requirement for tenants to participate in the application process. Administered by the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) and accepting applications starting Oct. 7, the Landlord Rental Assistance Program provides up to 12 months of past-due rent to landlords who are ineligible for the federally funded program because their tenants either declined to complete an application or vacated the residence with arrears.
Priority funding will be allocated to landlords owning small-to-medium-sized properties.
“Getting pandemic relief money out the door to New Yorkers has been a top priority for my administration since day one,” Hochul said.
“I am proud that our state’s rental assistance program has already provided much-needed relief to tens of thousands of New Yorkers, but there are still many small landlords ineligible for that relief because of federal rules who also need our help. This funding is a critical tool to close that gap and help more New Yorkers recover from the pandemic,” Hochul explained.
Locally, Sen. Jim Tedisco (R, C-Glenville) and Sen. Daphne Jordan (R, C, I-Halfmoon), have long been advocating for support and funding for making small landlords whole after the fallout from the pandemic. Although the release of funds is a start, the two Senators hope it’s not too little, too late for those small landlords desperate for assistance.
“While this is welcome news, it’s too little assistance and may be too late for many ‘mom and pop’ small business property owners who are struggling to pay their bills because they have not been paid rent for a year and a half and is just an affirmation of the failed eviction moratorium policies put forth by those who control all levers of power at the Capitol,” Tedisco said. “My colleagues and I have spoken out from the beginning that if renters fail to apply for state rental assistance, property owners will not be paid and will be left in the lurch. If our small property owners go out of business, that negatively impacts our renters as well as there won’t be enough affordable housing stock available.
“New York State has $2.6 billion in rental assistance available for property owners — far more than just the $125 million announced . Let’s hope that the entire $2.6 billion in rental assistance money goes out immediately to our cashstrapped small property owners and that this program doesn’t end up as another bureaucratic New York pandemic boondoggle like the unemployment insurance fiasco that stiffed thousands of workers out of their benefits.”
Jordan echoed those sentiments on the need to cut through the red tape and ensure funds are delivered directly and expediently to those ‘mom and pop’ landlords. Jordan also called for additional funds beyond the announced $125 million.
“I’ve led the fight to cut through the Albany bureaucracy and get much-needed relief out the door and into the hands of mom-and-pop small business landlords, some of whom are going on 20 months of not receiving a single rent payment and are staring down the barrel of financial disaster,” Jordan said. “Governor Hochul’s announcement that $125 million in state funding is now available to help landlords that couldn’t participate in the State Emergency Rental Assistance Program due to a federal requirement for tenants to take part in the application process — and that priority will be given
owning small-to-mediumsized properties — is welcome news. It’s a start to those landlords that have not been able to receive a dime.
“While this funding was approved in the latest Eviction Moratorium bill in the Special Emergency Session on September 1, the bill extended the moratorium until Jan. 15, 2022. This funding only permits payments to landlords up to 12 months, which is not enough. Many landlords have not been paid rent since March 1, 2020, which is much, much more than 12 months! From March 1, 2020, to January 15, 2022, is almost 23 full months! Landlords must be paid in whole and $125 million isn’t enough to cover the extent of loss to landlords. While making it a priority, to first pay landlords with 20 or fewer units, I certainly hope that landlords with more than 20 units will receive their lost payments as well. The state still has much more work to do in getting the remaining hundreds of millions in relief to qualifying mom-and-pop landlords who were continually ignored by the former Cuomo administration.
“We also need to fix OTDA’s broken ERAP portal and ensure state rules aren’t exceeding federal guidelines. The key is getting more relief out of Albany’s administrative pipeline ASAP, and while I give credit to Governor Hochul for taking this important step, we also need to recognize that the job isn’t nearly finished as too many momand-pop landlords are still hurting and tenants have been given the upper edge in all of this. I do not see fair remuneration for landlords.”
Eligible landlords must own units leased for at or below 150 percent of fair market rent for their location and must have documented the rental arrears accumulated after March 1, 2020, that are owed by a tenant who either vacated the unit or is declining to participate in the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Priority is given to those landlords owning a building with 20 or fewer units and who apply within the first 45 days of the program’s opening date on Thursday, Oct. 7.
Landlords that have applied to the state’s rental assistance program can complete an application for state funding through their existing account in the online portal or create a new account if they haven’t done so already. The assistance is first come, first serve, and specifically designated for arrears accumulated after the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic in March 2020. Additional information can be found at otda. ny.gov/lrap.
In September, Hochul signed into law a moratorium on residential evictions through Jan. 15, 2022. The law set aside $125 million to help landlords with tenants who decline to participate or have vacated the residence with arrears.
Plus, last month Hochul sent a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department requesting additional funding for New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program due to its shrinking balance and a continuing need for assistance throughout the state.
Thus far, the program has approved more than 63,000 direct payments to landlords, totaling $804 million in assistance. Presently, New York State has obligated or paid $1.8 billion in rental assistance, ranking the state first nationally in obligated funding and among the leaders in direct payments, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, which tracks the state-bystate implementation of ERAP.
New York State’s ERAP provides approved tenants with eviction protection even if a landlord does not provide the information necessary to issue a payment or declines the awarded arrears.