Rent-stabilized owners already crippled by New York’s rent law are now getting kicked while they’re down by the Trump Administration.
For the second straight month, payments to landlords accepting Section 8 vouchers were delayed, according to the New York Apartment Association, a group representing owners of rent-regulated buildings.
Typically, payments go out on the first of the month or the next business day if the first falls on a weekend or holiday as it did this month.
But when Monday dawned, NYAA’s phone started ringing. Payments had not hit the accounts of Section 8 landlords in a repeat performance of February’s chaos, the organization said.
The New York City Housing Authority, which receives Section 8 payments from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, said in a statement it had received funding for March and “payments were distributed today.”
NYCHA spokesperson Michael Horgan wrote in an email that federal guidance last month led to a processing delay. The Trump administration, around that time, directed federal agencies to pause payments, then rolled back the order.
On the heels of that initial delay, Horgan said NYCHA will “process payments one business day after it receives funds.”
“This processing period was slightly longer in February and March due to the first of the month falling on a Saturday in both cases,” he wrote.
NYAA estimates its members lease rent-regulated apartments to 15,000 voucher holders, most of whom use Section 8. That’s about 15 percent of the households that tap the program citywide and whose owners rely on the funds to pay their mortgages, property taxes and other bills.
For rent-regulated landlords, cash-strapped by the 2019 rent law’s effective cap on revenues, any amount of missing money is that much more devastating.
“This can’t continue,” NYAA CEO Kenny Burgos said. “There are thousands of unsubsidized rent-stabilized apartment buildings that provide the majority of housing in the city. And they are operating on razor thin margins.”
The recent delay comes just weeks after the White House ordered Trump-appointed HUD Secretary Scott Turner to lay off half of the housing agency’s employees. Cuts to HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing, which handles Section 8 payments, would slow down rental assistance to millions, the AP reported.
So far, HUD has notified all employees in the Office of Field Policy and Management at the General Schedule-13 level that they will be laid off May 18, according to Government Executive.
The OFPM does not handle Section 8 payments but does oversee regional offices that work with Public Housing Authorities such as NYCHA.
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