Rent Relief Applications Open in NY June 1: What Tenants and Landlords Need to Know

 After more than a year’s wait for substantial relief for tenants and landlords, the application portal for the state’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program is slated to open at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, June 1.

The application will be available here, and the state will have an assistance hotline at 844-691-7368.

The stakes are high for this rent relief program to go well. The last time New York tried to roll out a rent relief program during the pandemic, the effort failed miserably and thousands of people in need didn’t get help.

The $2.4 billion funding comes from the most recent federal stimulus package, via a program designed and approved by the state Legislature as part of its budget in April. New York is one of the last states in the country to roll out its rent relief program.

To make sure more New Yorkers can get the help they need this time around, the state built in a portion of the funding to pay community-based groups to help with outreach, application assistance and translation and language support. A dozen organizations in the five boroughs received city contracts to help tenants and landlords apply.

The state Office of Temporary Disability and Assistance, the agency distributing the funds, has not released a sample application before the portal opens — to the dismay of both tenant and landlord advocates trying to help prepare applicants. But we have a pretty good idea of what you’ll need to apply.

Here’s what we know so far about the rent relief program and how you will be able to access it.

What does the program cover?

The program covers up to 12 months of rental arrears from the time after March 13, 2020. It also can include up to three months of additional rent assistance — that’s 15 total months.

In addition, electric or gas utility debt can be covered.

Tenants can apply on their own, but they’ll need some documentation from their landlord for the payments to go through. Landlords can also apply on behalf of their tenants, but they will need some personal information and a signature from the tenant to complete the application. The application process will go most smoothly if tenants and landlords are able to cooperate, advocates for both agree.

The payments will go directly to the landlord to cover back rent.

Who is eligible?

To qualify, tenants need to meet all of these requirements:

• Households need a total income at or below 80% of the area median income — $95,450 for a family of four. You can calculate that using your current monthly income or your income from the 2020 calendar year. Unemployment and Social Security benefits count toward that income, but Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits do not. (For more details, check out this FAQ from the state.)
• Someone in the household must have received unemployment benefits, lost income, taken on additional costs or experienced another financial hardship directly or indirectly caused by the pandemic (documentation is outlined below).
• Someone in the household has to be behind on rent owed on or after March 13, 2020.

If you use a Section 8 voucher or live in NYCHA housing, you can still apply.

An important note: Undocumented New Yorkers can apply for rent relief.

You do not need to be a citizen or have any kind of legal immigration status to qualify.

How is the state dishing out the cash?

Tenants who face the highest risk of losing their homes or are otherwise most in need will be given priority for the first 30 days of the program. Anyone can apply starting June 1, but only priority applications will be approved in the first 30 days.

The priority group includes:

• Households with an income at or below 50% of the AMI, equivalent to $59,650 for a family of four.
• Tenants who are currently unemployed
• Tenants with pending eviction cases
• Tenants living in communities that were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 (You can look up to see if your ZIP code fits the criteria for being disproportionately impacted here.)
• Tenants living in buildings with 20 or fewer units

All the details about the priority order are listed on the state’s website.

Starting in July, applications for all eligible households will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis, until all the money is distributed.

What materials and documents do you need to apply?

Tenants will likely need the following documents:

• Personal identification for all household members, such as a photo ID, driver’s license or non-driver government issued ID, passport, Benefits Issuance Card, birth or baptismal certificate, or school registration.
• If you have a Social Security number, you’ll need to provide it. But remember, you do not need to have a lawful immigration status or a Social Security number to qualify for the program.
• Proof of rent amount and a signed lease, even if it’s expired. If you don’t have a lease, you can use a rent receipt, a cancelled check or a money order. Otherwise, your landlord can write a letter confirming the rent amount.
• Proof of residency and occupancy, such as a signed lease, rent receipt, utility bill, school records, bank statement, mail with your name on it, an insurance bill or driver’s license.
• Proof of income to document income eligibility. If you don’t have official income documents, you can fill out a form called a “self attestation.” The state will provide that information when the application portal opens.
• If applying for help paying for utility arrears at the same rental unit, you’ll need a copy of a gas or electric utility bill.

On top of providing all of this, you’ll also need to sign a form saying that you have directly or indirectly experienced financial hardship because of the pandemic.

Landlords will likely need the following documents:

• Completed W-9 tax form
• Copy of the lease or a cancelled check, rent receipt or other documentation of the last full monthly rent payment
• Documentation stating how much rent is due
• Banking information to receive direct deposit payment

You’ll also need to sign the application form.

If you don’t have these documents: In certain circumstances, you may be able to self-attest, which means you can fill out a form or write a note stating your income or rent owed if no documents are available.

What role do landlords play in the process? Can landlords apply on behalf of tenants?

Landlords will need to provide the information above to receive funds.

Landlords can start the application process, but there are some parts that tenants will need to fill out. If your landlord starts the process, the state will email and text you to let you know to finish the rest.

Again, the application process seems like it will go smoothest if tenants and landlords cooperate.

What if my landlord doesn’t cooperate?

If a landlord doesn’t provide the necessary information but the state finds the tenant to be eligible for the program, the state will hold the funds aside for the tenant for 180 days.

The state will let the tenant know that their application was deemed eligible. Tenants can use that approval as a defense in court if their landlord tries to evict them for rent that would have been covered by the program.

Does the money come with any conditions or protections?

If a landlord accepts rent relief funds, they can’t charge their tenants late fees on rent owed during the pandemic.

They also can’t increase rent for a year after they receive the relief, and can’t evict the tenant for a year due of an expired lease or case to remove the tenant for unauthorized occupancy.

The exception to this is if an owner of a building with four or fewer units wants a family member to move into a unit, they can evict that tenant.

How will I know if I’ve been approved?

The state will send an award letter to both the tenant and landlord listing the amount to be paid and the tenant protections that are in place because of the relief.

Once you apply, you’ll also be able to track your application status online.

This all sounds mad confusing. Who can help me apply?

The state has a hotline at 844-691-7368, and the city has tapped 12 local organizations to help tenants apply for the program.

Antonio Garcia, director of Catholic Charities Community Services’ eviction prevention program, which is one of the groups helping people apply, said: “If you contact one of these organizations that are providing assistance, your chances of getting an approval are much better. These agencies have advocates who can contact the state. They can make sure people have the right documentation.”

Which community group you can call depends on what borough you’re in. Some are still in the process of setting up hotline numbers, but this is what we know so far. We’ll update this list when more organizations provide hotline numbers.

The Bronx

• BronxWorks — No hotline set up yet, but you can call BronxWorks at 646-393-4000.
• Neighborhood Association for Intercultural Affairs, Inc. (NAICA) — Rent relief hotline: 718-866-0038

Brooklyn

• Black Veterans for Social Justice, Inc. — No hotline set up yet, but you can call BVSJ at 718-852-6004.
• Good Shepherd Services (GSS) — No hotline set up yet, but you can call GSS at 212-243-7070.
• Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty — Rent relief hotline: 929-292-9480
• RiseBoro Community Partnership — Rent relief hotline: 718-547-2800

Manhattan

• Catholic Charities Community Services — Rent relief hotline: 888-744-7900
• University Settlement — No hotline set up yet, but you can call University Settlement at 212-453-4500

Queens

• Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York, Inc — Rent relief hotline: 646-248-6602
• RiseBoro Community Partnership — Rent relief hotline: 718-547-2800
• Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services (CCNS) — No hotline set up yet, but you can call CCNS at 718-722-6001

Staten Island

• Project Hospitality — Rent relief hotline: 929-724-5360

In addition to these organizations, many tenant legal service providers are also preparing to help with applications. See this list.

https://www.thecity.nyc/2021/5/28/22458541/rent-relief-applications-open-in-new-york-june-1-tenants-landlords

As DFW's Population Explodes, Urban Planners Have Their Work Cut Out For Them

 Rapid population growth spurred by corporate relocations to North Texas is fueling a new stream of investment, good news for the development community. But, there are many drawbacks to rapid people and business growth, and Dallas-Fort Worth cities and counties are starting to see these growing pains firsthand. 

Unsplash/Gabriel Tovar

The estimated population of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is somewhere over 7.5 million today, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Projections suggest DFW will have a population of roughly 9 million by 2030, according to an analysis by Cushman & Wakefield published in Dallas Culture Map. 

So how can urban planners deal with this population influx to ensure effective housing and infrastructure is in place before more people arrive?

The biggest thing urban planners can do is to admit there is no longer one all-important downtown and that land use goals are now of utmost importance even though DFW still has a critical stock of empty land, experts say.

As urban sprawl pushes out to the furthermost suburbs, more North Texans are insisting on living in 20-minute cities where their homes, grocery stores, entertainment districts and offices are within 20 minutes of each other. This trend is a major disrupter when it comes to the big city, small suburb mentality of traditional development. 

"For us to sustain growth in North Texas the way it is coming, we will have to build our cities as a series of urban metros," Gensler Studio Director and principal Barry Hand said. "There was a time when everybody worked Downtown, but there are not enough roads and infrastructure to have one central business district anymore. So what you see in North Texas is a series of urban nodes."

That 20-minute city model of scattered nodes also will require more investment in green space, he said.

"In the future, there is going to be an increased demand for housing within walking distance to employment and that's going to require a series of linear parks and open spaces that people can use not just for health and wellness but to transfer back and forth to either lifestyle amenities or employment," Hand said.  

But many challenges remain in getting North Texas set up as an interlinked hybrid metro that has the energy, water, infrastructure and affordable housing capacity to accommodate the millions of new people arriving in the next decade.

"To accommodate those people, we need more space," said professor Khan Rahaman, an adjunct faculty member with St. Mary's University who has studied the environmental impact of growth and development. 

Rahaman said because rapid growth generally results in suburban and urban sprawl, it can have a devastating impact on residents. 

"The most significant negative consequences could be on the local environment and the social environment ... and weather and air pollution," Rahaman said. 

He also points to traffic congestion, which causes more air pollution and can lead to added traffic fatalities as people are forced to travel longer distances to get to work and home.

Rahaman said urban sprawl generally leads to poor urban planning and lower-density development, which in turn creates a higher risk of long-term environmental and structural issues. The professor said he recommends the placement of an actual urban boundary around any growing area to stipulate that sprawl will eventually not be allowed beyond a certain point.

Hand said newer housing stock in DFW that utilizes less land is needed to combat excessive sprawl and its impact on the area's infrastructure and quality of life. 

"The single-family neighborhood is alive and well in America," Hand said. "Going forward, we will, however, need to reorganize many of our current zoning ordinances to allow a greater diversity of uses and housing typologies that are currently not permitted. Embedded retail/dining and this ‘missing middle’ type housing can bring a richness of experience to residential neighborhoods."

Flickr/jefzila

DART rail

The Dallas suburb of Plano, which is almost built out to capacity, also recognizes the need for more housing types beyond apartments and standard single-family homes.

"The other side of the equation is we definitely need to have more single-family ownership options: smaller lot sizes, more townhomes and backyard cottages," Plano Comprehensive Planning Manager Mike Bell said. 

Transportation solutions connecting DFW counties and cities are another major component of growing North Texas the right way. 

Denton County, which is experiencing rapid industrial and residential growth along Interstate 35, has its county judge and commissioners searching for ways to fund transportation and infrastructure projects. 

"We are just over 900,000 and growing at a faster pace than projected five years ago," Denton County Director of Economic Development Michael Talley said. 

"Projections in 2016 showed us passing the 1 million mark in 2030. That’s much more likely to happen by 2025 now."

The Office of the State Demographer updated its projections in 2019, forecasting Denton will reach 2.3 million residents by 2050, Talley added. 

As growth continues, the need to effectively connect DFW counties to each other through infrastructure while also setting up roads, water, sewer services for residential and commercial projects is critical to keeping the region's growth on the right path, according to Talley. 

Plano also is looking to improve public transportation options from the light rail to the local busing system. The need for more busing shows Plano is now a well-established city that's starting to deal with the increased demands of a larger metro.

"I think the DART System is looking at a redesign of the bus system right now," Bell said. "In the DART service area, Plano has greater usage of the on-demand GoLink service than cities like Garland, Irving and Richardson, and some of the other established suburbs."

What all the urban planning experts studying DFW agree on is the need for more innovation and dense development to tackle North Texas' next wave of explosive growth. It's a sea change the entire CRE chain — from financing to construction — needs to get behind. 

"Many current financing and underwriting models for development can discourage tighter densities and vertical mixes of uses," Hand said. "In order to bring the highest utilization of land, financing models will need to adapt, and cities will need to participate in incentivizing tighter densities built around a mix of uses which then require smaller quantities of redundant parking and the need to travel so much."

https://www.bisnow.com/dallas-ft-worth/news/commercial-real-estate/as-dfws-population-explodes-urban-planners-have-their-work-cut-out-for-them-109094

Amazon Ring’s neighborhood watch app is making police requests public

 Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) camera unit, Ring, is planning to make police requests for users’ video footage through its neighborhood watch app more transparent, the company said on Thursday, a move that follows criticism that its products facilitate surveillance and profiling.

Public safety agencies such as police and fire departments now must request material from their communities through a new, publicly viewable type of post on the Neighbors app, Ring said in a blog.

Previously, Ring device owners would receive private messages from the app on behalf of police looking for videos.

Ring is a smart security device company whose video doorbell product allows users to see and record people who approach their doorsteps, deterring theft and allowing them to monitor around their homes. It was bought by e-commerce giant Amazon in 2018.

Its devices and its social app, which allows users to share and discuss the surveillance footage captured through their cameras, have been met with concerns from lawmakers and civil rights groups over privacy and racial profiling.

Ring’s partnerships with U.S. law enforcement agencies have drawn particular attention. Hundreds of police and fire departments have joined the Neighbors app, according to Ring’s active agency tracker.

Ring said its new "Request for Assistance" feature in the Neighbors app will roll out starting next week.

It said no information would be shared with agencies without users choosing to do so and that requests can be issued only by verified agency profiles and that request history will be logged online, so users can see how their police force is using the posts.

Social apps focused on neighborhood safety have come under increasing scrutiny in recent months.

Crowdsourced crime-tracking app Citizen was recently blasted for putting a $30,000 reward to find a man it wrongly said was an arson suspect. The company has said it regrets the mistake and is working to improve its internal processes. Citizen has also sparked controversy over what it said were internal tests for a service that would deploy rapid-response security personnel to app users in Los Angeles.

Hyper-local site Nextdoor, which attracted more users during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been criticized for failing to more quickly address racial profiling and misinformation on the site. The site has said it is adding user prompts and moderator training to mitigate these issues.

Ring said on Thursday it had rules in place to prevent "overly broad requests" from agencies on the Neighbors app, such as needing a valid case number and limiting the time frame and area in a request.

Amazon also recently extended its one-year moratorium on police use of its facial-recognition technology, which it says is not used in Ring products.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/amazon-rings-neighborhood-watch-app-is-making-police-requests-public-2021-06-03/

Manhattan politicos squash NYC casino project

 Manhattan politicos have squashed Gov. Cuomo’s plan to fast track a Las Vegas-style casino in the Big Apple, The Post has learned.

As The Post exclusively reported in March, three big name casinos — Wynn Resorts, Bally’s Corp. and Las Vegas Sands — have been gearing up for a rare opportunity to compete for a New York City-area casino license as soon as this year.

But efforts to move the process up by two whole years — to 2021 from 2023 — have collapsed amid strong objections from Manhattan legislators, sources said.

“I adamantly oppose any casino in Manhattan,” Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, who represents the Upper West Side, told The Post. “I believe it would be seriously detrimental to the residential and commercial quality of Manhattan.”

State legislators had been working for months to get around Manhattan’s objections, including by crafting a bill to give Manhattan officials the right to decide for themselves on any casino license proposals that came their way.

But, Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not like the idea of giving the powerful island borough special rights, sources said, and the measure could not pass without it.

Gov. Cuomo was opposed to the idea of giving Manhattan lawmakers rights to make key decisions about a casino project for the Big Apple.

EPA

“This got really close. It fell apart in the wee hours of the morning,” the source said, referring to the April 6 budget deal.

Gov. Cuomo believed that making an exception for Manhattan would only open the door to special requests in other budget negotiations. And he is against the idea of home rule, where a county can circumvent state laws, the source said.

Freeman Klopott, a spokeswoman for the New York State division of the budget, suggested the the bill could be revived again this year: “With the influx of federal funding, there was less of an imperative to change the status quo, however we are continuing to work with the Legislature to see if there is a path forward this year.”

Wynn Resorts was among the casino giants gearing up for the chance to compete for an NYC-area casino license.

Getty Images

But Sen. Joe Addabbo, chair of the Racing and Wagering Committee, told The Post, “There’s mere discussion at this point. There’s nothing really going on.”

And casino execs say they’re not holding their breath for a deal this year.

“I think they will be bringing it up again in January,” one casino source said.

Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, representing the Upper West Side, is among Manhattan officials opposed to bringing a casino to the Big Apple.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

The most recent effort to push the bill came in May after the budget was already passed, sources said. But it failed and the campaign has come to a complete standstill since, sources added.

The race to bring a piece of the Las Vegas Strip to the Big Apple kicked off in 2013 with a constitutional amendment authorizing seven New York gambling casinos. The four upstate casinos were licensed first and a moratorium was placed on the downstate casinos until 2023. 

Efforts to accelerate the downstate casino licenses had been seen as a potential fix to the state’s pandemic woes. The state stands to create new jobs and collect roughly $1.5 billion in license fees from the measure, sources said.

Dreams of NYC having a scene like this one on the Las Vegas Strip look to be dead in the water for now.

Getty Images

Two of the three downstate licenses are expected to go straight to gaming properties that already run slot machines in the area: the Resorts World Aqueduct racino in Queens and the MGM Resorts-owned Empire City Casino in Yonkers. 

The third license is the one that had Las Vegas and Atlantic City casino chains like Wynn Resorts, Bally’s Corp. and Las Vegas Sands drooling.

Disappointed casino execs now say they have no choice now but to hope that the bill is revived again before 2023.

https://nypost.com/2021/06/02/manhattan-politicos-squash-nyc-casino-project/

Retail Joins The Pack As Prices Rise Across All CRE Sectors

 Prices for commercial property assets continued increasing in April, with all property types — office, industrial, retail and multifamily — registering a year-over-year increase for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic, Real Capital Analytics reports.

In April, RCA's National All-Property Index grew 8.4% compared with April 2020 and 0.9% compared with March 2021. 

Even the long-suffering retail index was up. Prices for retail gained 1.3% compared with a year ago and 0.5% for the month. Annual price growth for retail assets was flat in March 2021 and had dropped each month before that for nearly a year, according to RCA. 

Unsurprisingly, industrial assets enjoyed the largest spikes in prices for the year in April, up 9.4%. Compared with last month, industrial prices gained 0.8%. Apartment prices grew nearly as much: 7.6% for the year, 0.7% for the month.

Though the prices for office assets were up overall — 0.3% month-over-month and 3% year-over-year — suburban office properties drove the increases. In the suburbs, prices were up 0.4% for the month and 4.4% for the year, but central business district office asset prices dropped 0.4% for the month and 4.9% for the year.

RCA reported stronger increases in secondary and tertiary markets compared with the nation's major metros, which the company defines as Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

In April, prices for all property types were up in the major metros by 0.3% month-over-month and 2.7% year-over-year. In secondary and tertiary markets considered as a whole, prices increased 1% for the month and 10.1% for the year, pointing to heightened investor interest outside major metros during the pandemic.

RCA bases its price indices on repeat-sales transactions through the month of its most recent report. The company periodically makes backward revisions to its indices as new data becomes available, and its future indices reflect those adjustments.

https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/capital-markets/cre-prices-moving-up-again-for-all-property-types-even-retail-109071

Single-Family Rentals as an Attractive Asset Class

 Since the global financial crisis, a new asset class has emerged that offers attractive yields – single-family rentals (SFRs).

SFRs represent more than one-third of all rented housing units in the U.S. John Burns Real Estate Consulting estimates that they now have a market value of approximately $4.5-5 trillion. Until recently, almost all of the approximately 12 million SFR assets were owned by individuals or small investors. However, following the financial and housing crisis of 2008, investment by institutions increased substantially.

Total returns to SFR assets have two components: rental yields and house-price appreciation. Andrew Demers and Andrea Eisfeldt, authors of the February 2021 paper, “Total Returns to Single Family Rentals,” constructed a data set containing rental yields and house-price appreciation data for SFR assets and analyzed the total returns over the period 1986-2014, and in a broad and granular cross-section across U.S. cities and zip codes. Following is a summary of their findings:

• Rental income (4.2%) and capital appreciation (4.3%) each contributed about half of the total return of 8.5%, and a Sharpe ratio of 1.14. Over the same period, the S&P 500 Index returned 10.7% but produced a Sharpe ratio of 0.52.

• Net yields (net of operating costs and fund expenses) were about 60% of gross yields.

• Rental income and capital appreciation were negatively correlated. High-price tier cities accrued more capital gains, while low-price tier cities had higher net rental yields. On average, yields were 6.1% in the lowest price quintile across cities and 2.4% in the highest price quintile. In contrast, house price appreciation in the lowest tier cities averaged 3.1% versus 5.5% in the highest tier.
• Within cities, lower price tier zip codes had higher total returns as a result of both higher yields and higher house price appreciation. In addition, within zip codes, house price appreciation did not increase with price tier. As a result, total returns declined with house price tier at the zip code level. However, house price appreciation in the lower tier zip codes displayed higher betas on city-level house price appreciation – the higher returns may be compensation for higher risk (vacancy and credit risk are likely to make rental yields riskier in lower price tiers).

• Rental yields were less volatile than house price appreciation. As a result, SFR assets with a larger return contribution from rental yields had higher Sharpe ratios.

• Debt investors may favor cities with higher dividend yields and therefore higher debt service coverage ratios. On the other hand, cities with higher house price appreciation may appeal to private equity investors seeking larger capital gains.

Summarizing, SFRs are an important asset class, providing diversification benefits and cash flow during a period where bond yields have been well below their historical average. While Demers and Eisfeldt examined data through 2014, the institutionalization of the SFR asset class has occurred largely since then. The result has been a steady improvement in SFR profit margins as operators enhance their platforms (particularly in the form of pricing tools, unassisted showing technology, field force management, and workflow management).

Larry Swedroe is the chief research officer for Buckingham Strategic Wealth and Buckingham Strategic Partners.

https://www.advisorperspectives.com/articles/2021/05/29/the-emergence-of-single-family-rentals-as-an-attractive-asset-class