*CDCLI’s rental arrears program will not accept any new applications as of November 11th, 2022.
CDCLI’s Rental Arrears and Eviction Prevention Program assist rental households earning up to 80% of the Area Median Income that has been impacted by COVID-19. The program provides one-on-one counseling and coaching, direct connection to available financial assistance, and referrals for additional supportive services. CDCLI launched this program in June 2020 to coordinate the flow of direct financial assistance and provide long-term case management to ensure ALL resident needs are met.
- While Governor Cuomo extended the COVID-related residential eviction moratorium to January 1, 2021, this only delays the inevitable for those who have fallen behind on rent payments.
- Low income, minority-majority communities are most impacted – and are also more likely to be renters rather than homeowners.
- The unemployment rate on Long Island peaked at 13.8% in July, compared to around 4% in pre-pandemic days. There are currently 159,000 unemployed residents in Nassau and Suffolk Counties (NYS Dept. of Labor data, August 2020). One in seven small businesses is expected to close permanently if it has not already done so.
- Many two-income households have become a one-income household as parents had to choose between leaving the workforce and managing remote learning for their school-aged children, thus becoming more financially strained.
- The households most likely to have lost income during the pandemic are those in lower-wage jobs (accommodation and food services, manufacturing and construction, and retail).
- These families struggled before the pandemic – 35% of Long Islanders have incomes above the Federal Poverty Level but are not enough to afford basic necessities like food, child care, transportation, and health care (United Way ALICE Report, 2020).
- The cost of housing in the Nassau-Suffolk region is the most expensive area for rental housing in New York. The minimum hourly rate needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent is $38.31; nearly triple the current minimum hourly wage rate of $13 (National Low Income Housing Coalition Out of Reach Report, 2020).