At a recent City Council hearing, NYCHA shared that more than 70,000 households still owe rent, due in large part to being put at the back of the line for state pandemic rent relief.
The class action lawsuit, filed Tuesday on behalf of New York City public housing tenants left out of the state’s rental assistance program during the height of the pandemic, alleges the state’s distribution of the funds—for which these tenants received low priority—amounts to discrimination.
Tenants and advocates say the funding would repair 40,000 apartments and help cover outstanding rent arrears accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the total won’t be clear until remaining applications for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) are processed, a majority of the $391 in aid will likely go to the housing authority and other public housing tenants, with $35 million specifically earmarked for NYCHA. Still, thousands of New Yorkers living in public or subsidized housing did not apply for ERAP but continue to struggle with mounting debt.
The rally comes after state lawmakers released budget proposals that include up to $389 million for public housing and Section 8 residents who were left out from the state’s pandemic-era Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). But tenants are pushing for more, pointing to estimates that public housing tenants across New York owe nearly $590 million in rent.
In a budget resolution unveiled last week, the State Senate earmarked $389 million for public housing and Section 8 tenants statewide who applied for, but were left out from, New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). The Assembly proposed $385 million for the same purpose.
More than 73,000 NYCHA households are behind on rent, what officials say will force the public housing authority to draw from operating reserves and make other cuts in the year ahead—and could potentially hamper its repair plans. Meanwhile, the state’s already-exhausted Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to aid New Yorkers in rent arrears is unlikely to reach NYCHA.
Throughout the five boroughs and across the rental market, apartment prices continue to surge, according to an analysis of nearly 390,000 listings over the past three years that online marketplace StreetEasy shared with City Limits.
So far this year, city marshals have executed at least 1,527 residential evictions, according to statistics maintained by the Department of Investigation (DOI). The true number of legal evictions is likely higher because DOI updates its database only after a marshal reports an eviction, which can take days or weeks.
The Stable Families Act builds off the massive pot of money that Congress sent to states and local governments to cover rent arrears for tenants who could not make payments as a result of the pandemic
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