For decades, NYC’s generous tenant-assistance programs have stepped in to rescue renters under threat of eviction, by having taxpayers cover their “arrearages” and head off years-long battles in housing court.
asserted
taxpayers → step → court
It’s an obscure program known as the “one shot deal” (a misnomer, because tenants can apply repeatedly) — “emergency assistance,” according to the city’s Human Resources Administration, for tenants who “will lose your housing if you do not get help.”
uncertain
you → ’ → help
More than 54,000 New Yorkers received such aid last year, and no doubt many deserved it.
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many → receive → it
But it’s also been an invitation for abuse — one that cries out for reform.
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that → cry → reform
Consider the experience of “Elena,” who owns three 20-unit pre-war, rent-stabilized buildings in the Tremont section of The Bronx.
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who → consider → Bronx
She and her husband inherited them from her immigrant Greek father-in-law, who invested his life savings to buy them.
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who → inherit → them
“Most tenants are good,” she told me, “but there are a handful of bad seeds who just don’t pay.”
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who → tell → seeds
When she notifies such “bad seeds” that she’s about to begin formal eviction proceedings, they often apply for the one-shot deal to cover their large arrearages.
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they → notify → arrearages
Unpaid rent in just one of her buildings tops $100,000.
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rent → top → 100,000
But despite the lack of rental income, she must continue to maintain the aging buildings — even as insurance and taxes increase, and rents, thanks to Mamdani, are frozen.
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rents → continue → Mamdani
Then some resume their deadbeat ways just months after getting the city’s emergency help, starting the cycle all over again.
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some → resume → cycle
No other city has a system so generous.
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city → have → system
A Los Angeles program — now closed to new requests — caps assistance at $15,000; Gotham has no cap at all on payments or on applications.
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Gotham → close → applications
Philadelphia caps arrearage relief at $3,500.
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Philadelphia → cap → 3,500
Meanwhile, a tenant in one of Elena’s buildings who received “one-shot” help previously has now racked up a new arrearage of $22,000.
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who → receive → 22,000
Another building manager told me of a case of a single $90K arrearage.
New York City provided rental assistance to 52,200 households for fiscal year 2025 — at a cost of $555 million, or more than $10,000 apiece.
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City → provide → million
Emergency assistance for tenants truly in need is actually a good concept, says Valentina Gojcak, whose OneSource Property Management firm runs 40 rent-stabilized buildings.
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firm → say → buildings
When a reliable tenant faces a temporary health or financial challenge, the program sends needed funds to the landlord while the tenant gets over the hump.
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tenant → face → hump
That allows both parties to avoid a housing-court process than can take two years or more — and keeps landlords, as she put it, from being “forced to provide unpaid shelter.”
But in her experience, some tenants are deliberately stiffing their landlords.
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tenants → allow → landlords
They may be “working in cash-only jobs who are choosing to send money back to family in their home countries,” she told me.
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she → work → me
“They’re using landlords as banks that don’t get any interest on what amounts to a loan.”
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what → use → loan
That’s why the early months of Mamdani’s mayoralty have her concerned.
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her → ’ → mayoralty
In the first quarter of this year, turn-down rates for one-shot applications rose — 75% were declined, compared to 62% in the same period in 2022, the first quarter under Mayor Eric Adams.
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% → turn → Adams
In light of the city’s eviction rules, that means more landlords are being left in the lurch.
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landlords → mean → lurch
If Mamdani’s HRA refuses an increasing number of rent-relief requests, landlords will be forced to begin the protracted eviction process — during which they’ll get no rent revenue at all.
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they → refuse → revenue
A tighter tourniquet on private landlord income will force owners into bankruptcy, after which the city can swoop in and help taxpayer-supported non-profits obtain the buildings instead.
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profits → force → buildings
That’s in keeping with the socialist views that originally inspired the public housing program — and those held by Mamdani aides like Cea Weaver, who believes for-profit housing should be replaced by government ownership.
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housing → ’ → ownership
For her part, Gojcak suggests a small fix that could make a big difference: Allow tenants and landlords to jointly petition HRA for needed rental assistance, if renters are truly in distress — and to get a quick decision if they qualify.
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they → suggest → decision
That way landlords could get back rent without going to housing court to begin a years-long battle.
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landlords → get → battle
Of course, that would require Mamdani to realize that the best way to provide well-maintained housing in Gotham is to help not just tenants but landlords, too.
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way → require → tenants
The Aporia
