The class action lawsuit, filed Tuesday on behalf of New York City public housing tenants left out of the state’s rental assistance program during the height of the pandemic, alleges the state’s distribution of the funds for which these tenants received low priority amounts to discrimination.
The rally comes after state lawmakers released budget proposals that include up to $389 million for public housing and Section 8 residents who were left out from the state’s pandemic-era Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). But tenants are pushing for more, pointing to estimates that public housing tenants across New York owe nearly $590 million in rent.
More than 73,000 NYCHA households are behind on rent, what officials say will force the public housing authority to draw from operating reserves and make other cuts in the year ahead and could potentially hamper its repair plans. Meanwhile, the state's already-exhausted Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to aid New Yorkers in rent arrears is unlikely to reach NYCHA.