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Owners who couldn’t get relief in the original Emergency Rental Assistance Program can now apply for thousands of dollars in aid through a new state program launched on Oct. 7. The Landlord Rental Assistance Program (LRAP) gives eligible recipients payments of up to a year’s worth of past-due rent. The program was created from legislation enacted on Sept. 2 that included an extension of the eviction and foreclosure moratorium through Jan. 15, 2022.
On Aug. 12, the country’s highest court sided with a group of New York owners who challenged the state’s COVID Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act (CEEFPA). The CEEFPA was signed into law in December 2020, effectively freezing nearly all evictions in the state. In the recent decision, the Supreme Court struck down an important component of New York's eviction moratorium.
On June 23, the Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze existing rents for six months before increasing rates by 1.5 percent for the remaining half of the year for one-year leases. The RGB also voted to raise rents on two-year leases by 2.5 percent. The new rates take effect for leases commencing between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022.
The application portal for New York’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) has finally opened. As of June 1, eligible tenants and landlords can apply for rental assistance to help them get back on their feet. Many tenants have been unable to pay rent because of the coronavirus pandemic, and many owners have been unable to collect rent. Renters and owners can apply online at Read More
The Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) recently started its annual process for examining and considering lease renewal guidelines in the coming year. This is the one decision of the RGB that has the greatest impact on owners since the board’s decision with regard to rent renewal increases affects roughly one million rent-stabilized apartments across the city.
A recent lawsuit filed by the Housing Rights Initiative (HRI) against 88 brokerage firms and landlords brought attention to source-of-income discrimination. This discrimination is the illegal practice by landlords, owners, and brokers of refusing to rent to current or prospective tenants seeking to pay for a rental unit with housing vouchers, subsidies, or other forms of public assistance.
State lawmakers recently introduced a newly amended bill that’s intended to meet the federal requirements of the COVID-19 rent-relief measure enacted in December 2020. The federal rent relief package included $25 billion in emergency rental assistance. New York State is expected to receive at least about $1.3 billion.
The latest application window for COVID rent relief ends Feb. 1.
When the New York State Legislature passed the Emergency Rent Relief Act of 2020 last May, the DHCR was charged with administering the program by disbursing $100 million from the state’s CARES Act money to eligible renters.
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