New York has until the end of September to dole out over $2 billion in rent relief to tenants. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the federal government could take that money back if the state misses the deadline.
Schumer said it’s urgent that state officials ramp up payments to help tenants in need. The moratorium on evictions will end August 31, and the federal government could take back the rent relief funds if they’re not disbursed by September 30.
“New York State has not gotten the money out as of last week. We're the only state of the 50 that had not sent any money to the tenants. Now they've sent a little trickle, but that is not enough,” Schumer said.
Schumer said at a news conference that job losses during the pandemic caused many renters and landlords to fall behind. New York received about $2.3 billion for rent relief this year from the federal rescue packages.
The state has announced a new streamlined application process and added more staff to process over 150,000 applications for rent relief.
