Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Website for New York’s Covid Rent Relief Program Crashes within 8 Minutes of Launching

The overwhelming need for rent relief was made evident within the first 8 minutes of the launching of Governor Cuomo’s Covid Rent Relief Program.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

July 16, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share
Image: Bebeto Matthews/AP/Shutterstock

Too many many requests. 8 minutes after going live, the website for the New York state Covid Rent Relief program crashed, overwhelmed by applications from tenants who are struggling to pay rent in the midst of an economic crisis and pandemic.

It should come as no surprise. 25% of New Yorkers have not paid their rent since March, at the start of the Covid pandemic and the subsequent skyrocketing of unemployment. People around the country find themselves in dire straits: 28 million people are facing homelessness as states lift eviction moratoriums. This coincides with the reality that  the extra $600 in unemployment benefits allocated to fight the economic effects of lockdown measures are set to expire at the end of July. 

The plan is meant to provide a rental subsidy sent directly to landlords on behalf of tenants. Yet with one fourth of tenants unable to pay rent since March, it is obvious that a one-time payment to landlords is far less than what is needed to protect tenants from eviction. The program’s website crashed so quickly due to the sheer magnitude of people seeking help with their rent payments; the need for more comprehensive relief is even more urgent in light of the fact that the eviction moratorium, which was put in place mid March, expired this month. However, as a result of public pressure and the concerted effort of tenants unions and protests, evictions proceedings will not be heard in courts until August 5. 

As for the relief program itself, the rules are confusing. It’s hard to understand who qualifies and who doesn’t. It’s hard to understand when evictions are starting. “It’s like a Talmudic study to figure out what [these orders] mean. It’s ridiculous,” says Edward Josephson, the director of litigation and housing at Legal Services NYC. “I’ve been in the industry for 32 years, and no, I can’t think of anything ever like this.”

To qualify for the program, tenants must earn below 80 percent of the Area Median Income. Additionally, they must have spent 30% of their household income on rent as of March and also prove a loss of income between April 1 and July 31. If someone qualifies, then the state will send a check to the landlord amounting to the difference between 30% of a tenant’s income and their rent payment.

Like other federal relief programs, undocucumented people cannot seek this aid, putting hundreds of thousands New York residents in danger of evictions. Renters who receive a Section 8 housing voucher are not eligible for relief either. 

Though the state has implemented an eviction moratorium, landlords can still seek money judgements against tenants, paving the road for quick evictions once housing court reopens. Some landlords are already moving towards attempted evictions of tenants, as was the case on Dean Street where an illegal eviction was stopped by swift community action

Since day one we made it clear that no New Yorkers should be thrown on the streets because of hardships caused by this pandemic,” Cuomo said in a press conference. These are clearly nothing but empty words that will do nothing to stop evictions for tenants who are unable to pay rent. If Cuomo truly wanted to protect New Yorkers from homelessness, he would support calls for the cancellation of rent. The program is an ineffective stop-gap measure for an increasingly dire housing situation.

It is nothing but a subsidy for large landlords who continue to get rich as working class people struggle to survive. It is a bureaucratic and inefficient band aid that can only be fixed by stopping all evictions and cancelling all rent as people face the economic crisis. Housing is a right, but like education and healthcare, they are sources of massive profits for the capitalists.

In the coming weeks and months, we will need to struggle against evictions, as well as against the layoffs that are already starting to occur in the midst of pandemic-driven austerity. We’ll need to mobilize to protect people from evictions, as we did at Dean Street. But in order to really fight all of these attacks, we’ll need to unite the Black Lives Matter movement, the movement against evictions, and the labor movement to fight against all attacks against the working class and oppressed. We’ll need a united movement like we haven’t seen in decades to defund and abolish the police, stop all layoffs, end evictions, and guarantee housing for all. 

Facebook Twitter Share

Tatiana Cozzarelli

Tatiana is a former middle school teacher and current Urban Education PhD student at CUNY.

United States

A Slow-Moving Crisis of the Empire

Notes on the National Situation – A Document for the Left Voice Congress

Left Voice

October 1, 2023

Far Right Imposed Shutdown Represents Deeper Crises Only Workers Can Resolve

The United States is on the verge of a government shutdown. The fact that a minority far right in Congress has forced this, largely over disagreements with military spending, shows that the U.S. regime is in a historic crisis. Now more than ever, workers must intervene for their own interests.

Sam Carliner

September 29, 2023

Neither Trump nor Biden Represent the Interests of the Striking Workers

Donald Trump skipped the second GOP debate to go to Michigan to speak on the UAW strike. This, one day after Biden became the first U.S. president to walk a picket line, represents the on-going fight between the parties to win influence over the working class.

Enid Brain

September 29, 2023

The Deadliest Year for U.S.-Mexico Border Crossings Occurred during Biden’s Administration

The humanitarian crisis at the border was created by capitalism. Voting for a lesser evil won’t save the Latin American working class; it will take international, political and strategic solidarity across borders to build a combative immigrants’ rights movement.

Paul Ginestá

September 28, 2023

MOST RECENT

Left Voice Magazine: Special Issue on Our Congress

In July, Left Voice held its first congress. As part of this special issue of our magazine, we are publishing two documents that formed the basis of the discussions, as well as an substantive and rousing greeting from Leticia Parks, a Black revolutionary socialist from Brazil. We also include an appeal for Climate Leninism, a debate with Tempest, and a talk about women’s liberation in revolutionary Russia.

Left Voice

October 1, 2023

Notes on the International Situation

A Convulsive New Phase of the Crisis of Neoliberalism — A Document for the Left Voice Congress

Left Voice

October 1, 2023

Debating the Path to the Party

Revolutionaries and Reformist Organizations — A Debate Between Jimena Vergara of Left Voice and Aaron Amaral of Tempest at the Socialism Conference in Chicago.

Jimena Vergara

October 1, 2023

For Climate Leninism!

Andreas Malm has called for “ecological Leninism” to fight the climate emergency. Good. But above all, Leninism means smashing the capitalist state.

Nathaniel Flakin

October 1, 2023