New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Seeks $1.6 Billion Funds for Emergency Rental Assistance as Bail Reform Rift Grows

As her primary opponents strive to make housing a prominent campaign issue, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is again seeking the feds for additional rent assistance. On Thursday, the governor filed a second petition to the Treasury Department, requesting an additional $1.6 billion in funding for landlords and renters who have asked for pandemic rental assistance.

In recent weeks, Hochul has made a number of similar offers as the state's eviction moratorium has ended and a court ruling has compelled officials to resume the application process for the state's COVID-19 rent assistance program.

Gov. Kathy Hochul offers several eviction moratorium

Following the exhaustion of its initial $2 billion allocations earlier this month, the state's overburdened Emergency Rental Assistance Program. After receiving just under 300,000 applications, the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance awarded roughly $1.4 billion to landlords via 109,000 direct payments. The remaining money are related to applications that have been approved.

With insufficient funding to meet the extra claims, reopening the application process earlier this month gave only short-term safeguards against evictions for struggling renters.

After Hochul sought $996 million to cover the underfunded program, the Treasury Department only provided $27 million late last year. The governor joined five other states in asking for a reallocation of federal COVID aid left unspent earlier this month, according to New York Daily News.

According to Hochul's office, New York State has simplified and expedited the delivery of rent assistance money. According to the authorities, more than 166,000 families were spared eviction and approximately $1.4 billion was handed to landlords via 109,000 direct payments.

The state sought $996 million in reallocation financing from the Treasury Department after exhausting all initial monies for this program, which is nearly enough to satisfy about 70,000 unfilled applications. According to Hochul, the Treasury Department only gave New York $27 million more than it needed to cover less than 2,000 applications.

GOP slams Hochul's stance on controversial bail reform

A joint letter to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was submitted earlier this month by New York, California, New Jersey, and Illinois, requesting increased government funds and ensuring that high-need states with substantial tenant populations are given priority. These four states have spent a total of $5.4 billion in federal rent relief since November, approximately 12% of the total $45.5 billion in federal rent relief distributed across all states, helping to stabilize over 625,000 families.

Meanwhile, the Republican Party of New York on Thursday urged voters to remember Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's support for the state's controversial bail reform law in November, as the legislation has come under increased scrutiny in the wake of the deaths of two New York City police officers who were shot in the line of duty, as per Silive.

After the recent killings of NYPD Officers Jason Rivera and Wilbert Mora in the line of duty, Democrats have been under heightened pressure from law enforcement authorities to put an end to gun violence. In New York City so far this year, five policemen have been shot, two of them fatally. As law enforcement officers lined the streets of Manhattan as Rivera's casket was taken to St. Patrick's Cathedral for his funeral, NYGOP Chairman Nick Langworthy issued a statement.

On Monday, Adams unveiled his "Blueprint to End Gun Violence," which calls for reviving a modified version of the plainclothes anti-gun team that was dissolved by Bill de Blasio's predecessor. Adams congratulated Hochul, a fellow Democrat, for establishing the Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns in a speech at City Hall, but he acknowledged that bail reform has to be adjusted to keep felons off the streets, Fox News reported.