ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York state has sent out just $117,000 in coronavirus pandemic rent relief money to help bail out struggling landlords and tenants as of Thursday, and lawmakers say that is far too little. Tenants and landlords statewide have raised alarm for weeks about the program’s failure to get out aid to vulnerable New Yorkers quickly. The Legislature plans to hold a hearing soon on the sluggish roll-out of the state’s $2 billion rent relief program. According to U.S. Treasury data, New York until this week was the only state that hadn’t distributed any money from the federally funded rent relief program since January.
Photo: FILE – This photo from Friday May 1, 2020, shows May Day protesters with signs calling for rent cancellation, as they drive in a caravan en route to the offices of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York. Advocates hope New York’s revamped rent relief program will finally help tenants and landlords who’ve struggled to get assistance since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
