Senator Charles Schumer has formally asked the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance to expedite rent relief funds for New Yorkers in need, as reported by the New York Daily News.

Legal Aid applauded the Senator’s leadership, noting that while the Emergency Rental Assistance Program began taking applications in June, almost none of the $2.3 billion allocated has been paid to those who desperately need it.

“Since the program opened, our clients are experiencing a challenging application process, glitchy website and opaque rules and procedures and almost no money has been paid out,” said Judith Goldiner, Attorney-in-Charge of the Civil Law Reform Unit at The Legal Aid Society.

Time is of the essence as New York’s eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end of August. Legal Aid’s Ellen Davidson expressed her concern that the state has done a poor job communicating the deadline to renters and landlords.

“I think that we may be headed to a place where low-income tenants are put at risk in order to defend against the eviction cases that are coming,” she told the Daily News.