7,000 New Yorkers Apply For COVID-19 Rent Relief In 4 Hours

New York City NY

05 June, 2021

9:31 AM

Description

By Deanna Garcia, DocumentedNY June 5, 2021 More than 7,000 New Yorkers applied for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program within four hours of its launch, causing several technical issues, New York's Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance said. ERAP will send money directly to landlords whose low- to middle-income tenants showed they couldn't pay rent because of the pandemic. To inform immigrant tenants and undocumented residents about the program, six of the city's largest nonprofit legal service providers and tenant rights' groups created a Know Your Rights campaign and housing helpline. Attorney Ju-Bum Cha of the MinKwon Center said immigrants were most likely to need to provide documents to access the funds. City Limits In other local immigration news… NY Lawmakers Pass Legislation Protecting Immigrants from Blackmail The New York state Senate passed legislation Thursday that will protect immigrant New Yorkers from threats of revealing their immigration status for blackmail. Assemblymember Michaelle Solages (D-Elmont) and State Sen. Anna M. Kaplan's (D-North Hills) bill would enhance the laws barring extortion and coercion to include making threats to report an individual's immigration status or bring about deportation proceedings. "By passing this long-overdue measure, we're updating the laws on extortion and coercion to ensure that immigrant New Yorkers aren't left vulnerable to such vile threats," Kaplan said. Similar measures have been enacted in California, Colorado, Maryland and Virginia. The New York State Senate South Asian City Council Candidates Support Cab Drivers The new generation of South Asian candidates running for New York City council aren't hiding their support for taxi drivers amid their medallion crisis. Candidates running for city council include a taxi driver and a driver organizer running in Brooklyn and two daughters of taxi drivers in Queens. The resale price for taxi-medallion permits once peaked over $1 million, but plummeted when Uber and other car services started to take over. Cab drivers, who are largely immigrants, saw their business shrink and debt grow — a problem that only compounded when the pandemic hit. The City and The Fuller Project Support the work of Documented Documented was founded with the goal of making sure the people affected by our stories were also the people reading them. Immigration reporting is often extractive and isn't produced or published with the main protagonists as the intended audience. Through our reporting and out outreach via WhatsApp, we've created award-winning journalism that is created with and for New York's immigrant communities. This work is not easy and it is not cheap. Consider becoming a member today to help fuel this work. By joining the Documented Community, you can not help only provide us with the financial freedom needed to fulfill our mission but also meet others who are passionate about immigration in the New York area. Become a member today. Documented NY is a non-profit news site devoted solely to covering New York City's immigrants and the policies that affect their lives.