Albany, NY – Amidst a continued failure to issue rent relief payments to property owners on behalf of tenants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as part of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz has issued the following statement:

“It is absolutely unacceptable that the State has failed to disburse the critical funding from the ERAP program as we rapidly approach the end of July. This program funding, which is on the scale of billions of dollars, is an essential resource that will help people stay in their homes. I authored the eviction moratorium legislation as well as the extension precisely to allow the State more time to deliver these funds to property owners who are owed rent by tenants that have suffered financial hardship due to the pandemic. At the time we were extending the eviction moratorium to August 31, it was my understanding that the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance would start sending money out in June. It is well beyond that time frame. These failures are a dereliction of our state’s obligation to meet the needs of both tenants and property owners, and unless this money starts going out the door very soon – New Yorkers may soon be faced with an avalanche of eviction filings such as we have never seen before. OTDA needs to get their contractors together and figure out how to fix this huge mess before people start needlessly losing their homes.”