The New York State Legislature established the COVID Rent Relief Program to help households experiencing an increase in their “rent burden” due to a loss of income during the COVID-19 crisis. Rent burden is the amount of monthly contractual rent that exceeds 30% of gross household income.
The rental assistance subsidy will cover the difference between the household’s rent burden on March 1, 2020 and the increase in rent burden for the period the household is applying for assistance. The awards are limited to cover an increase in rent burden during April, May, June and July, and there is a cap on the total subsidy amount residents can receive.
HCR will prioritize households with “greatest economic and social need” accounting for income, rent burden, percent of income lost and risk of homelessness. Applications will be accepted through Thursday, July 30 and the program will not make determinations on a first come, first served basis.
Who is eligible for the COVID Rent Relief Program?
To qualify for COVID Rent Relief Assistance, an applicant must meet ALL of the following eligibility criteria:
1. Be a renter with a primary residence in New York State.
2. Before March 1, 2020 and at the time of application, household income must be below 80% of the Area Median Income (To view AMI by county and household size, visit: https://hcr.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2020/07/crrp2020_eligible_income_80ami.pdf
- Families with extremely low income will be prioritized.
- Income includes unemployment insurance payments/PUA.
3. Before March 1, 2020 and at the time of application, household must pay more than 30% of gross monthly income for rent.
4. Applicants have less monthly income in any month between April 2020 and July 2020 than they did prior to March 1, 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The program is open to New Yorkers that rent apartments, single-family homes, manufactured homes, and manufactured home lots. Tenants with at least one household member with U.S. Citizenship or eligible immigration status are qualified to receive the subsidy.
Residents receiving a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher for housing costs or who reside in public housing where the tenant’s rent should not exceed 30% of their income, are not eligible for RRP assistance.
More detailed information on the Rent Relief Program and the application process is available on HCR’s website https://hcr.ny.gov/RRP
Translated applications are available to download and submit via mail in Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Haitian-Creole, Korean, and Bengali. For Rent Relief Program foreign language documents, visit: https://hcr.ny.gov/RRP#foreign-language-applications—documents
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