Housing

Landlords seek a new $2 billion fund to cover COVID back rent

With money for the current rental assistance dried up, affordable housing operators say state aid can help them pay their bills and keep tenants housed

Alexander Spatari

Lawmakers in Albany are preparing to hear from advocates and officials on how the state budget should address issues surrounding housing. With the degree of attention housing has already received from the governor, it’s sure to attract significant interest. 

But even as Gov. Kathy Hochul focuses on building new housing, problems from the pandemic continue to plague both tenants and landlords. Although money for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program has dried up, countless tenants are still drowning in arrears that they are struggling to pay. To solve the problem, a group representing the affordable housing industry is lobbying state officials to include $2 billion in new rental assistance to help cover remaining gaps. 

The New York State Association for Affordable Housing is proposing what it is calling the Tenant Fund for Affordable Housing. It would only apply to buildings and landlords that have regulatory agreements on affordability with New York City and state housing agencies, a group of tenants that advocates say were left out of the original rent relief program. “A lot of the affordable housing and all of the public housing tenants either didn’t apply because they didn’t think they were eligible, or applied and were put in a pile on the side,” Jolie Milstein, CEO of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing, told City & State. 

Unlike the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the new proposed fund would have an option for landlords to apply for assistance without their tenants’ agreement, allowing that landlord to recoup some back rent even if the tenant does not agree to cover part of the cost. In that case, the tenant would receive no eviction protections and the landlord could receive up to half of the arrears owed for a year.

That option is only one of three, with the other two offering either total rent forgiveness to tenants, or partial forgiveness with eviction protections so long as both tenant and landlord agree. The first avenue would largely apply to the same group of people originally eligible under the federally-funded Emergency Rental Assistance Program – those with disabilities, a record of pandemic-related unemployment or tenants who qualified for ERAP but did not receive assistance because it ran out of money. The proposed fund would pay half of the rent owed for up to 18 months, with the landlord forgiving the other half and providing protections against eviction for the specific months covered. 

The final option is for all other applicants with arrears from during the pandemic, even if they cannot show unemployment or other pandemic-related hardships. The fund would cover a third of the back rent, the tenant would be responsible for another third and the landlord would forgive the rest for up to a year with protections against eviction during the covered time. “What (landlords) really want is to find a way to pay as much of the arrears as possible,” Milstein said, noting that eviction won’t cover the debt. “Our members have agreed to take a haircut on those outstanding arrears.”

The proposal has the support of the Legal Aid Society, which represents low-income tenants facing eviction, including those living in affordable housing complexes that this fund would assist. “ERAP put the most vulnerable tenants last in line and left them at risk of eviction and homelessness,” Judith Goldiner, attorney in charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit at the Legal Aid Society, said in a statement. “The Tenant Fund for Affordable Housing would solve this challenge by finally eliminating arrears in a way that makes sense for everyone.”

In addition to the $2 billion that Milstein and other advocates are asking for, the fund would also include a separate stream of $500 million specifically for public housing tenants who fell behind on rent during the pandemic. That’s enough to fill the $447 million hole that the New York City Housing Authority tells state lawmakers it has from missing rent.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.