Assemblyman Keith Brown (R,C,I- Northport) is calling on state officials to release $1.3 billion in federal funding aimed to help tenants and landlords recover from economic hardships experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New York State was approved $1.3 billion in December intended to provide economicrelief and prevent individuals from being faced with eviction or foreclosure. The state has yet to take any action to get the money into the hands of those that need it.

The state has been given a deadline of September 30, 2021 to distribute the $1.3 billion in relief funding. Republican legislators from both the State Senate and Assembly gathered in the state Capitol to urge state officials to distribute the funds before it is too late.

“It is baffling that the same Majority members who lobbied so heavily for federal funds to mitigate the damage done by their rent and eviction policies would fail to disperse $1.3 billion. If we don’t get this money into the hands of the people who need it tenants and landlords alike will continue to suffer unnecessarily.

“If we continue to fail in distributing this money to the people it is indented for, we will send a message to both the federal government and those in need that our state is either unwilling or incapable of performing its duties to the people.”