COVID Rent Relief Extension Program

The COVIDRRP Call Center closed on Wednesday, March 24, 2021.  

It has been our pleasure to serve our community and assist our fellow New Yorkers, we are looking forward to a better and vaccinated tomorrow.  Pre-recorded information may still be found at 1-833-499-0318. However, there is no longer an operator or voicemail option on this line. 

Households impacted by COVID who are still in need of rental assistance should visit  otda.ny.gov for more information regarding the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance’s (OTDA) forthcoming, federally-funded Emergency Rental Assistance Program to provide rental subsidy to eligible households in New York State. More information will be forthcoming from OTDA. 

The COVID Rent Relief Program (“COVIDRRP”) provided rental assistance to low income households who were economically impacted by COVID during the initial months of the pandemic. HCR is no longer accepting applications or responding to general inquiries regarding this program except from those who fall into one or more of the following categories:

1. If you are an applicant who received a case curing notice within the past 10 calendar days.
2. If you are an applicant who received a denial or award notice within the last 7 business days and are submitting an appeal.
3. You are a landlord who has been asked to submit a W9 prior to the issuance of payment.

If you fall into one of the above listed categories and are in need of assistance, please follow the instructions on this page.

The application window for COVIDRRP was closed on February 1, 2021. No additional applications will be accepted.  The vast majority of applicants should have already received a determination regarding their eligibility.  You should have received either an email or text notification based on the contact information you provided in your application. HCR is not responsible for incorrect contact information provided by the applicant. If you have not received a notice, please check your email account, including junk and spam folders.  

CASE CURING

A small number of applications are still under review.  If this is the case for your application, you will receive a notification, and a case manager from the program will reach out to you directly by phone or email. Your notification will list one or more areas (known as “flags”) where additional information or documentation is required.  Requested documents must be provided within 10 calendar days.  

If you were not contacted by a case manager prior to March 31, 2021, your application has been closed and no additional action will be taken, unless otherwise specified by HCR.  If you believe that you may still qualify for assistance, you may apply to OTDA for rental assistance under the new program once applications become available.

See the link below for common documents that are needed to address each flag:

Case Curing Flags and Denial Codes – explained

Related Documents & Information

• PRWORA Eligibility Desk Aid
• RRP - Area Median Income Chart (80% AMI)
• Tenant Employment Attestation
• Tenant Rent Attestation
• RRP - Expanded Applicant Attestation: Nominal Income
• CRRP Phase I Final Denial Notification with No Appeal
• CRRP Duplicate Application Denial Notification with No Appeal
• COVID Rent Relief Program Appeal Form

For application assistance, please see the 'Contact Us & Application Assistance' section below.

Translated Documents:

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Applicants who are denied for assistance, or who wish to dispute their award amount, may appeal to HCR for up to (7) seven business days following the date of their denial or award. Appeal requests received after the required date will be denied, and no further action shall be taken unless otherwise specified by HCR.   Your appeal should be submitted using the form linked below and uploaded to (be sure to use the confirmation code previously assigned to you):

 https://covidrentreliefappeals.hcr.ny.gov

• COVID Rent Relief Program Appeal Form

If you are having difficulty, uploading your form, please email: [email protected]

See the link below for common reasons why your application may have been denied. Submitting the documents listed in the attachment below does not guarantee an appeal will be successful. Appeals submitted within the required timeframe will be reviewed individually based on the applicant supplied data and documents, third-party data sources, and other due diligence performed at HCR’s discretion.

Case Curing Flags and Denial Codes – explained

Landlords are required to submit appropriate tax documentation prior to receiving a rental payment on behalf of a tenant receiving assistance from COVIDRRP. If you have a tenant who qualified for COVIDRRP and have not received a payment, a member of our landlord team will be reaching out to you.
Landlords will receive an email from [email protected] with a RightSignature package.  The  email contains a W9, with instructions on how to complete it.

To request a W9 email or assistance in filling out the form, please email [email protected].

Once an application is deemed eligible and the applicant has been selected to receive assistance, they and their landlord will be notified simultaneously that the subsidy is being dispersed. This notification will include the amount of assistance, the timeline for receipt, and the method by which the applicant has chosen to have the rental subsidy allocated.

If a landlord has multiple buildings that tenants have submitted applications for, they will need to request multiple RightSignature W9s (one for each building) if each has a separate TIN.

Submitting a W9 does not guarantee a landlord will receive a rental payment. HCR reserves the right to re-collect rental assistance payments at any time issued on behalf of tenants who submitted inaccurate or misleading application information, or who are otherwise determined to be ineligible.

Most applicants applied to COVIDRRP on-line utilizing their ny.gov ID.  Case curing materials and appeals may in some cases be submitted through this method.  If you are having trouble logging on, below are some tips:

Please double check that you are signing in with the same exact ny.gov ID you used to submit your application and that your confirmation number is inputted correctly. The copy and paste function can add an extra space, which may throw off the system.
 

Check you are using your correct username; if you have forgotten, please go to my.ny.gov ‘forgot your username’

Enter your First Name, Last Name and Email and click “I’m not a robot”

-Click “Email me the Username”

-Check your email for your confirmed username.

TIP: Search your email inbox for "Welcome to Ny.gov Id" emails, these were sent when an account was created
Try to sign into the applicant upload portal again. If the error persists,

1. Did your login attempt result in a spinning gray circle that does not go away?
   
   Close your browser fully and restart the process in a fresh browser.
    
2. Are you attempting to access the website from outside the Continental US?
   
   You are not able to access the portal outside the continental us; please request assistance from a US based proxy ( trusted friend, family member or non-profit organization).
    
3. Are you using a VPN or proxy anonymizer to access the portal?
   
   Please turn off the VPN or proxy anonymizer service and try again or use a different device that is not connected to the VPN or proxy anonymizer service. Try to log into the AUP again.
    
4. What time is it, according to your device?
   
   Go to your internet search engine and search for time in your location. If the time on your computer is greater than 5 minutes different from the actual time, please reset your time and try the Applicant/Appeals upload portal again.
    
5. Go to my.ny.gov. Are you able to successfully log in there?
   
   If yes, please return to the Applicant Upload Portal (AUP) and try again. If no, reset your password using the “Forgot Password” link on the my.ny.gov site. Wait two minutes after resetting the password and then attempt log in again.
    

Applicants who submitted their application via proxy and need to upload documents cannot use the applicant upload portal. You will be contacted by your case manager on how to submit documents. If you are still not able to access the document upload portal please go to my.ny.gov for further assistance.

Please see the links below for additional resources. This list is not comprehensive, and HCR does not make any representations as to the timeliness, accuracy of completeness of the information listed.

https://hcr.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2020/01/2020.1.8.-nrpp-website-directory.pdf

https://rent.hcr.ny.gov/RentConnect/Welcome

https://hcr.ny.gov/office-rent-administration-ora

https://hcr.ny.gov/tenants

Other Government Resources

Assistance For Renter/General Finances