Although the near future surrounding eviction moratoriums is unclear, the end of New York state’s current moratorium is approaching quickly, set to expire Aug. 31.
Lawmakers in Albany recently proposed an extension to the end of October, but it has not been approved.
There is still time for rent relief, available through New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which will provide assistance for up to 12 months’ worth of past-due rent and 12 months of utility arrears payments, along with three months of prospective rental assistance.
Households must make at or below 80% of the area median income ($127,500 for a family of four in Westchester), have a member of the household who experienced financial hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic, have rent past due dating from on or after March 13, 2020, and be at risk of becoming homeless or experiencing housing instability.
County officials, nonprofits and landlord groups around Westchester are working to spread awareness of the program before funding runs out, as it is operating on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Norma Drummond, commissioner of Westchester’s Department of Planning, said: “We would really consider us to be the facilitator and the go-between between the New York state operations and getting our nonprofits to provide that real on-the-ground assistance to the tenants that need the help.”
Nonprofits engaged in helping tenants, include the Hudson Valley Justice Center, Westchester Residential Opportunities, Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, Neighbors Link and several others.
Last year, Westchester ran a program for landlords to apply for help, and the county was able to assist about 50 landlords of buildings with no more than 50 units, covering up to eight months of assistance.
It is difficult for the county to estimate how many people are likely to apply, how many are in need currently and how many will be assisted, although the number receiving assistance from the state program through the county will be less than the actual number, as the city of Yonkers is managing its own rental assistance program through American Rescue Plan funding.
“We’re hoping that this program really gets to at least a vast percentage of those tenants that are behind,” Drummond said. “It’s hard to (estimate target numbers) because we don’t know what the universe is of who’s behind … we certainly had no sense of the goals or what the numbers would be, because from last March on, we’ve been checking in regularly with landlords and our nonprofit organizations to get a sense of, what is the way that tenants are paying the rent?
“And we haven’t heard that it was really tremendously behind. We never really heard that it’s going to be 100,000 households; that was never the case here in Westchester. Certainly just a couple thousand of households that have applied to New York state, that makes a big difference here in Westchester. Then I’m sure there will be another couple thousand that apply just under the Yonkers program.”
According to data from the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which is managing the program, the state received 119,209 applications from June 1 to June 29, with 2,166 of those coming from Westchester County. That period prioritized households of those who are unemployed or making at or below 50% of the area’s median income.
On the landlord side, Tim Foley, CEO and executive vice president at Building and Realty Institute of Westchester and the Mid-Hudson Region, is hoping to communicate to landlords that encouraging any tenants struggling with rent to apply to the program is in their best interest.
Payments will go directly to landlords, but they are also required to waive any fees incurred from the late payments and not evict or raise rent for the household for one year if the tenant is approved for assistance.
“In some cases, some of our landlords have altered their lease terms to let tenants get out of their lease early or consolidate or whatever they needed to do, but ultimately they’ve sort of been bending over backwards and going without, in some cases because they didn’t get the full rental payments from their tenants,” Foley said. “So this is an opportunity for both landlords and tenants to really wipe the slate clean and to be made whole out of what it’s been for so many of them, particularly small landlords, a disastrous year.”
According to Foley’s data on Building and Realty Institute member landlords, the number of tenants falling behind is relatively small, with about 85% of tenants having paid on time throughout the pandemic.
“At one point, it was as bad as 2 to 1 — the ratio of tenants who owed arrears but hadn’t applied yet to those who had applied, and that was a big source of concern,” Foley said. “Obviously repeated letters went out to keep up repeated attempts to talk to these folks. Not quite sure what’s going on there. In some cases, we had landlords who even set up appointments with tenants that they knew to be behind to say, ‘We’ll go over the paperwork together,’ and the tenant rescheduled or didn’t show up, or what have you. There has been an uptick over the past month, so that 2-to-1 ratio is now more of a 1.5-to-1 ratio.”
Although applications may be rising, large-scale payments have yet to be made from the state as of early August.
The fund for the program totals $2.7 billion, but New York state had only issued $40 million by Aug. 6, according to the Associated Press.
As of July 27, only 55 households had received an average of $14,000 in relief each, according to state Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal of Manhattan.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in late July that he would add 350 state workers to the effort to get the payments out. He announced that the state would clear a backlog of 4,800 verified applications for payment by Aug. 3, but over a quarter of those were withheld due to landlords deciding not to participate or technical difficulties.
Foley reiterated that the Building and Realty Institute maintains its trust that the rent relief provided through the program will suffice for the need posed now.
“The single biggest thing that we’ve been stressing over and over again is that this money is here,” Foley said. “It’s been allocated by the federal government.
“By our calculations, it is enough to address the need. We just need people to apply for it. We know that people have had difficult times applying for some of these rent relief programs in the past, or they encountered technical difficulties this time. We’re urging people to stay with it because the alternative is really no alternative.
“The eviction moratorium is in place. Many of the other routes that even the small landlord would take to try and recoup some of their assets just aren’t available to them. This relief program, if it works as it’s designed, is enough to solve the problem. And we all have a stake in making sure it’s success.”
Landlords and tenants can apply through New York’s online portal.
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With eviction moratoriums in limbo, Westchester officials encourage ERAP assistance - Westfair Online
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