S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3499
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 31, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  TEDISCO,  BORRELLO, GALLIVAN, HELMING, OBERACKER,
   ORTT, PALUMBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when  printed  to
   be  committed  to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community
   Development
 
 AN ACT to establish a rental assistance loan-to-grant program to  assist
   landlords  of  small rental properties who have lost rental income due
   to the inability of the landlords' tenants  to  pay  rent  during  the
   COVID-19  state  disaster  emergency;  and providing for the repeal of
   such provisions upon the expiration thereof
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1. 1. (a) There shall be established in the New York Division
 of Housing and  Community  Renewal  a  rental  assistance  loan-to-grant
 program  ("the  program") to assist landlords of small rental properties
 who have lost rental income due  to  the  inability  of  the  landlord's
 tenants  to  pay  rent  during the period of the COVID-19 state disaster
 emergency declared pursuant to executive order 202 of 2020. The  program
 shall  be  administered  by the Commissioner of the New York Division of
 Housing and Community Renewal.
   (b) The program shall provide loans to landlords of residential  prop-
 erties  containing  up  to  six rental units for the purpose of covering
 rent arrearages owed by tenants of the building who were unable  to  pay
 rent during the COVID-19 state disaster emergency due to unemployment or
 medical  emergency  and  accrued  during  the  state  disaster emergency
 declared pursuant to executive order 202 of 2020.  If  a  tenant  subse-
 quently  pays  the landlord the arrearages in rent, in whole or in part,
 the landlord shall pay such funds to the  program  as  full  or  partial
 repayment of the loan. If a tenant does not pay the landlord the arrear-
 ages  in  rent,  that  portion  of  the  loan  from the program shall be
 converted by the Division of Housing and Community Renewal into a  grant
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD08448-01-3
 S. 3499                             2
              

 
 to  the  landlord and the landlord shall be held harmless from any obli-
 gation to repay such portion of the loan, absent any fraud.
   2. The program shall be funded with monies from the following sources:
   (a) all funds received by the state of New York from the federal Emer-
 gency Rental Assistance program;
   (b) any funds remaining from monies allocated to the state of New York
 from  the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
 Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-136) for the Emergency Rent Relief  Act  of  2020,
 pursuant  to chapter one hundred twenty-five of the laws of two thousand
 twenty, such that the sum of such funds actually  expended  pursuant  to
 such  chapter  and  that such funds reallocated and expended pursuant to
 this article shall equal one hundred million dollars; and
   (c) any additional funds allocated by the federal  government  to  the
 state  of New York for emergency rental or utility assistance related to
 the COVID-19 pandemic.
   3. The Commissioner of the New York  State  Division  of  Housing  and
 Community  Renewal  will promulgate rules and regulations for the imple-
 mentation and administration of the program including, but  not  limited
 to:
   (i) standards of eligibility for the program;
   (ii) application procedures;
   (iii) a verification process for eligibility for the program;
   (iv)  a  process  for  distribution of program funds to eligible land-
 lords;
   (v) a verification process for payment by a tenant of rent  arrearages
 or of the tenant's failure to do so;
   (vi)  time  frames for the processing of applications and the distrib-
 ution of funds under the program;
   (vii) procedures for and methods of repayment of loans in whole or  in
 part by landlords; and
   (viii)  procedures  for the conversion of loans to grants, in whole or
 in part.
   4. Nothing in this act shall be construed to relieve any tenant of any
 obligation to pay rent to a landlord pursuant to a valid  rental  agree-
 ment or understanding.
   §  2.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
 have become a law and shall expire and be  deemed  repealed  January  1,
 2025.