Waiting for ERAP

-He said by the tree.  Do you see any others?

-What is it?

-I don’t know.  A willow.

-Where are the leaves?

-It must be dead.

-No more weeping.

-Or perhaps it’s not the season.

-Looks to me more like a bush.

-A shrub.

-A bush.

-A- What are you insinuating?  That we’ve come to the wrong place?

-He should be here.

-He didn’t say for sure he’s come.

-And if he doesn’t come?

-We’ll come tomorrow.

-And then the day after tomorrow.

-Possibly.

-And so on.

-The point is-

-Until he comes.

-You’re merciless.

-We came here yesterday.

-Ah no, there you are mistaken.

-What did we do yesterday?

-Yes.

-Why…Nothing is certain when you are about!

No, that is not two guys named after the current Russian president and a certain female hormone standing around waiting for a guy whose name sounds like that of the Supreme Being on a set that looks like the west coast of Ireland.  It is me and a representative of the New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance discussing the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or ERAP.  I am asking questions.  She is ducking them.

ERAP is the New York State program that was put in place to distribute funds allocated under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, P.L, 116-260 (December 27, 2020), and the American Rescue Plan, P.L. 117-2 (March 3, 2021) (collectively, the Acts).  Under the Acts, Congress allocated over $46b to rental relief for tenants facing eviction due to non-payment of rent.  The Acts required that funds be apportioned to individual states, and that state governments distribute the apportioned monies.  ERAP is New York State’s method for distributing these funds.

ERAP went into effect on June 1 of this year.  I have advocated for a public rental insurance plan for a while, so I was glad when it was put into place.  My experience with ERAP so far has taught me that what I have yearned for is a functional rent insurance scheme.  I am still yearning.

Here’s how ERAP is supposed to work.  A property owner with tenants who are short on rent sets up an owner profile on the ERAP platform.  The tenant applies and is assigned a unique application number.  The property owner searches for the tenant’s application using their application number and date of birth; once the tenant’s application is found, it can be linked to the owner’s profile.  The tenant supplies certain information (identity, tax returns, past and projected income, rent).  The owner supplies certain other information (proof of ownership, W-9, banking information, lease, receipts, customer statement, e.g.).  ERAP staff help tenants who do not have Internet access to apply.  Owners supply certain documents by uploading them as PDFs.  Certain other information is provided directly through the portal.  Four to six weeks after both halves of the application are complete, the owner’s pound of flesh is deposited directly into the owner’s bank account.

That’s how it is supposed to work.

I called the ERAP helpline late last week.  Between the two parks, I have about twelve grand in application money due.  Another five is due from a woman who has dug her heels in and entered the Witness Protection Program, and one more is due on a note from a family who thinks I tried to screw them when I tried to help them get title to their home – but that’s another story.  My profile and tenant applications were all created at the beginning of June.  It is now late July.  That’s more than six weeks, and I want my pound of flesh.

In particular, I was curious about the following:

• When I tried to enter W-9 and banking information for one of my landowning entities, I get an error message.  For some reason, I am able to enter the same information for my other landowning entity with no problem.  I uploaded a PDF of a W-9 form and a voided check for the first landowning entity.  I wanted to know whether that was sufficient, or whether there was a way that I could input the relevant information directly without getting the error message;

• I wanted to know whether my applications were complete, or whether I needed to supply anything more; and,

• I wanted to know if my tenants’ applications were complete.

Here’s how it went, after the initial formalities were out of the way.  The person on the other end sounded young, female and well-spoken.  I asked,

-I’m not able to enter a W-9 or banking information for Versailles Estates, LLC.

-What’s the problem?

-I get an error message.

-Our servers are overloaded today.  Try in a few hours.

-But I was able to do this with my other landowning entity.  And I have tried to enter the information for Versailles Estates every day for two weeks.

-Sorry.  Our servers are overloaded.  Try in a few hours.

-OK.

-Oh, wait – I see that W-9 and banking information have been received for Versailles Estates.  So, you’re all set.

-Did you get that through the PDF upload?

-Sorry, I can’t see that on our computer system.

-Could you please check to see that I have uploaded all necessary documents for that entity? 

-Can I put you on a brief hold?

-Sure.

I spent a minute reflecting that my tax dollars are wasted on crappy hold music.

-Sir?

-Yes.

-I can not see any documents uploaded for that entity.

–What?  I uploaded them, like, a month ago!

-Check back in an hour or two, sir.  Our servers are uploaded.

-But you have the W-9 information.  Since I couldn’t input it directly, you must have gotten that through the PDF that I uploaded!

-Sorry, sir.  Check back in an hour or two.

I looked for another wall to bang my head against.

-Could you check for owner documents uploaded to my other entity, Leisure Living, LLC?

There was a pause, and some clicking of a keyboard.  Her voice had a slightly higher pitch when she spoke, signifying that she was giving good news:

-Oh, yes.  I see them.  You are all set.

My memory is not what it used to be, but I could swear I uploaded the documents for the first entity, Versailles Estates, when I first created my profile.  I am absent-minded, but it’s not like me to forget to do something when money is at stake.

-Uh – so you can see the documents for Leisure Living, but not for Versailles?

-That is correct, sir.

-That’s crazy.  If your system is down, it would affect all owner profiles, not just one.  Can you check on that, please?

Since she did not have a down-state accent, I suspected she would not get in my face, but I did hear a note of frustration:

-Sir – you will have to check back in an hour or two.  Our servers are –

-But they are equally burdened for both entities.  How can it be that the glitch obscures uploads for one entity but not the other?

-Sir – please check back in an hour or two.

No points to be scored there.  I moved on to my final question:

-Can I confirm that each of the tenants for both entities have provided you with everything you need from them?

-No, sir.  I can not provide you with any of their personal information.

The last part of that utterance was a true statement of a rule whose policy is just.  The application process is designed to keep parties’ confidential information private.  That’s a good thing.  I do not want my tenants to know my banking information or property tax bill, and I am sure there are things in their applications that they would like to keep private from me.  However, the statement as a whole was an improper application of the law to the facts.   I wasn’t asking for confidential information.  I was asking whether same had been supplied to ERAP.

-Say again?

-I cannot answer that, because I can not provide you with confidential information that they supplied in their application.

-Uh – I’m not asking for the information.  I am asking for confirmation that they gave that information to you.

-Sorry, I can’t tell you that, because I can’t give away your client’s information.

How do you argue with a brick wall?

-We are speaking at cross purposes.  I don’t want to know the information that they supplied you with in their application.  I just want to make sure they gave you everything you need.

-Sorry, but I can’t tell you that, because I can not give away the client’s personal information.

Q: What do you call a brick wall that sounds young, female and comely?
A: A brick wall.

-Do you understand what you’re saying?  If one of my tenants does not supply you with a sheet of paper, I could be waiting forever!

-You will need to ask your tenants directly if they completed their applications.

-Dude.  I will do that, but I want to confirm with you that they did it right.

-We can put you in touch with a tenant communication coordinator, if you need that.

-No, thank you.

And that was that.  After we hung up, I asked the tenants at the park in northern New York to call ERAP to confirm that their applications were complete, and I asked Dee Dee, the manager at my park in central New York, to follow up with a family in that park.  If they tell the truth and do not screw anything up, the pound of flesh might be delivered some time before judgment day.  If not, I will continue to sit under the bare willow tree, waiting.