The Legal Aid Society announced today that litigation brought earlier this year, Hidalgo v. New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, to force the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) to reopen the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) portal protected 136,607 households from eviction and helped tens of thousands of families qualify for millions in funding to address rental arrears, as of October 31, 2022.

Today’s announcement comes in response to news that OTDA will close the ERAP portal next month.

“Last year, we filed a lawsuit and subsequently secured an outcome against the State which reopened the ERAP portal for tenants in need to apply for rent relief. This result protected over 136,000 households from eviction and helped tens of thousands of families qualify for millions in funds to address arrears,” said Edward Josephson, supervising attorney with the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society.

“At this juncture, with the unlikely possibility of New York securing additional funding from Washington, we lack sufficient legal basis to challenge ERAP’s closing scheduled for next month,” he continued. “However, should Albany secure any future allocation to replenish ERAP, we will immediately petition the court to order the reopening of the program’s portal.”