“As Minority Conference members in the Legislature have called on for months, New York has finally established a program designed to assist the renters, housing providers and small-business owners who have faced severe financial losses during the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Thousands of New Yorkers have dealt with mounting financial pressures while Albany bureaucracy prevented billions of dollars in relief from getting into the hands of people in need. This $3.5 billion will help ease a great deal of fiscal insecurity and financial hardship for homeowners, renters and small-business owners alike.

Today’s announcement represents overdue good news for those who have waited for this administration to get its act together. While some states have already finished allocating this critical funding, New York is just getting started and now playing catch-up. I hope the state Office of Temporary Disability and Assistance administers this program with greater efficiency than we’ve seen in the process leading up to this point.”