HOUSING BLOCK

State asks feds for more rent-relief dollars

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Elected officials across the state are joining Gov. Kathy Hochul in calling on the U.S. Treasury Department to dole out $1.6 billion in additional funding to stave off the eviction of 174,000 families in New York.

The at-risk tenants are all applicants who have previously met the criteria of the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program that then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo kicked off last year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. After a slow start to cash disbursement — and Cuomo’s resignation — the state picked up the tab for approximately 166,000 applicants.

“New York state continues to demonstrate a large need for this federal funding,” Hochul said, in a release. “We need to ensure that all eligible tenants and landlords are able to tap into this critical assistance.”

With the eviction moratorium now a thing of the past with no plans to extend it, hundreds of thousands of tenants across the state are now at risk of becoming homeless, according to Hochul. In fact, roughly 610,000 households are in rental arrears, according to National Equity Atlas — data collected by USC Equity Research Institute and PolicyLink.

After initial funds for ERAP dried up, the state requested another $1 billion from Washington, which would have helped the state cover 70,000 more applications.

But Treasury would only cough up $27 million  — enough to fund fewer than 2,000 applications, according to the governor. 

The state took matters into its own hands, allocating $100 million of its own money to help families impacted by the pandemic. Additionally, it has committed $125 million to households that were previously deemed ineligible for ERAP because they didn’t meet the income requirements.

 

Residential real estate transactions

Some of the notable residential real estate transactions as reported through city property records:

• 600 W. 249th St. — Ellen Blye to Michael Buckstein for $1.4 million

• 6038 Liebig Ave. — Philip Sheridan to Wilson Benito for $850,000

• 330 College Road — 330 Coll Road LLC to Eric Gordon for $2.025 million

• 4641 Grosvenor Ave. — Mitchell Spaiser to Reza Yassari as Trustee for $2 million

• 6154 Riverdale Ave. — Richard Chen Revocable Trust to 6154 Riverdale Ave LLC for $1.17 million

• 4621 Livingston Ave. — Lajos Lamberth to 4621 Livingston LLC for $1.8 million

• 5421 Arlington Ave. — Cynthia Ladopoulos to 5421 Arlington Avenue LLC for $1.1 million

• 5216 Delafield Ave. — Estate of Filippo Vita to Reinaldo Garcia III for $1.33 million

• 4455 Douglas Ave. — Eduardo Zappi to Diahnne Copeland for $1.02 million

• 3038 Kingsbridge Terrace — Kim Steven Jones to Elena Fedina for $895,000

Kathy Hochul, U.S. Treasury Department, Emergency Rental Assistance Program, Andrew Cuomo, USC Equity Research Institute, PolicyLink,

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