STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6845
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 19, 2021
___________
Introduced by Sen. KAVANAGH -- 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 removing the
requirement that rent arrears be repaid
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 131-w of the social services law, as added by chap-
2 ter 41 of the laws of 1992, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 131-w. Limitations in the payment of rent arrears. [Districts] Local
4 social services districts shall not provide assistance to pay rent
5 arrears, property taxes or mortgage arrears for persons not eligible for
6 home relief, aid to dependent children, emergency assistance to needy
7 families with children or emergency assistance for aged, blind and disa-
8 bled persons, except to persons who are without income or resources
9 immediately available to meet the emergency need, whose gross household
10 income does not exceed one hundred twenty-five percent of the federal
11 income official poverty line and who sign a repayment agreement agreeing
12 to repay the assistance in a period not to exceed twelve months. [The
13 districts shall enforce the repayment agreements by any legal method
14 available to a creditor, in addition to any rights it has pursuant to
15 this chapter.] Local social services districts shall not require a
16 recipient to repay assistance provided to pay rent arrears. The depart-
17 ment shall promulgate regulations to implement this section which shall,
18 among other things, [establish standards for the contents of repayment
19 agreements and] establish standards to ensure that assistance is
20 provided only in emergency circumstances.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed in
22 effect on and after March 13, 2020 and shall apply to any assistance
23 provided to pay rent arrears on and after such date.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10379-03-1
