S 4446: Enacts the "shelter arrears eviction forestallment act" to provide emergency assistance for rent or mortgage arrears or other fees for the prevention of eviction.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4446 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 5, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. KAVANAGH, S. RYAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Social Services AN ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to enacting the "shelter arrears eviction forestallment act" to provide emergency assistance for rent arrears for the prevention of eviction The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as 2 the "shelter arrears eviction forestallment act". 3 § 2. The social services law is amended by adding a new section 131-cc 4 to read as follows: 5 § 131-cc. Shelter arrears eviction forestallment program. 1. (a) With- 6 in amounts appropriated therefor, the office of temporary and disability 7 assistance shall establish the shelter arrears eviction forestallment 8 program to provide emergency assistance for rent arrears for the 9 prevention of eviction due to nonpayment of rent. Funds shall be allo- 10 cated to social services districts with a population of five million or 11 fewer, for services and expenses related to the payment of rent arrears 12 necessary to retain housing and to households that are in receipt of or 13 who would be eligible for ongoing or emergency public assistance pursu- 14 ant to section one hundred thirty-one-a of this title but have exhausted 15 the allowable frequency of such payments through the emergency safety 16 net assistance or emergency assistance to families programs. Each 17 social services district to which funds are allocated pursuant to this 18 section shall use best efforts to make such funds available to house- 19 holds for the purposes set forth in this section. 20 (b) The office of temporary and disability assistance shall allocate 21 funding to social services districts with a population of five million 22 or fewer, with a methodology that shall consider the rate of eviction 23 filings and other indicators of need as determined by the office of 24 temporary and disability assistance. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD08817-02-5 
 S. 4446 2 1 (c) The office shall establish rules for the administration of the 2 program, including but not limited to: 3 (i) requiring payments shall not exceed a total of six months of 4 arrears in addition to payments previously made through the emergency 5 safety net assistance or emergency assistance to families programs; 6 (ii) providing that such payments shall not be limited by the shelter 7 allowance amount set forth in section one hundred thirty-one-a of this 8 title and shall not be part of the standard of need pursuant to such 9 section; 10 (iii) providing that funding allocated to social services districts 11 pursuant to this section shall not replace or reduce any other emergency 12 assistance allocations such districts would otherwise receive; and 13 (iv) requiring program payments be made directly to the landlord or 14 property owner on behalf of a tenant. Tenants, landlords and property 15 managers shall be notified of any assistance provided under the program. 16 2. In a form and manner prescribed by the office of temporary and 17 disability assistance, social services districts with a population of 18 five million or fewer shall submit annual reports to the office includ- 19 ing but not limited to the following information: 20 (a) the criteria used by such social services district to determine 21 program eligibility; 22 (b) the dollar value of arrears issued under the program; and 23 (c) basic demographic information on the households served including 24 but not limited to the: 25 (i) number of households served; 26 (ii) number of households served for multiple periods; 27 (iii) number and percentage of households with and without children; 28 (iv) number and percentage of households with an open public assist- 29 ance (PA) case; 30 (v) age distribution of the primary tenant; 31 (vi) distribution of the number of children; 32 (vii) distribution of total payment amount; and 33 (viii) distribution of race and ethnicity. 34 3. The office of temporary and disability assistance shall submit a 35 report to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, and the 36 speaker of the assembly by the thirty-first of December of each year. 37 Such report shall cover the twelve-month period ending on the thirtieth 38 of September immediately preceding the date the report is due and shall 39 include but not be limited to the information submitted pursuant to 40 subdivision two of this section, in the aggregate for the state and for 41 each county. 42 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.