New York State COVID Rent Relief Program Has Reopened!

The New York State Homes and Community Renewal Agency (HCR) announced that the NYS COVID Rent Relief Program will be accepting new applications beginning December 18, 2020 through February 1, 2021.

The eligibility criteria has been expanded to provide more relief for New Yorkers. Individuals that submitted applications and were denied during the previous application period, do not need to apply again. These applications will be reviewed for consideration under the new eligibility criteria.

The expanded eligibility criteria are as follows:

• Have a primary residence in New York State.
• Have not previously received a subsidy from the COVID Rent Relief Program.
• Household income prior to March 7, 2020 must be at or below 80% of the area median income for their county and household size.
• Applicants can find their county’s area median income, based on household size: https://hcr.ny.gov/eligible-income-limits-80-ami-county.
• During the coverage period (April 1, 2020-July 31, 2020), household must have paid more than 30% of gross monthly income for rent. (Applicant household’s gross monthly income is the total amount of income received each month, prior to any deductions such as taxes, Social Security, medical insurance, etc.)
• Have less monthly income in any month between April 1, 2020 and July 31, 2020 than prior to March 1, 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.

For help, applicants can contact HCR’s COVID Rent Relief Extension Program Call Center for assistance at 1-833-499-0318 or covidrentrelief@hcr.ny.gov . Call Center representatives are available Monday through Friday 8:30am – 5:00pm and are available to assist residents in filling out the application over the phone.

Note: The call center will be closed December 24th, 25th, 31st and January 1st.

The Application and additional information on the COVID Rent Relief Program is available on the HCR Website.