The New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) said it is starting to make payments to applicants in the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

The state began accepting applications on June 1 for the $2.7 billion available, almost entirely federal funds. OTDA said it began processing test payments on Monday, July 19. It said about $117,000 was paid out and additional payments will go out Friday.

State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced Thursday a hearing would be held to examine the program. The August 10 hearing will focus on the application process, implementation of the program and how quickly assistance is being distributed. This comes after landlords across the state have complained about delays in payments.

Earlier Thursday, Democratic Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz issued a statement criticizing the delay in payments. Dinowitz was behind the bill extending the eviction moratorium in New York through August 31. Dinowitz’s full statement is as follows:

“It is absolutely unacceptable that the State has failed to disburse the critical funding from the ERAP program as we rapidly approach the end of July. This program funding, which is on the scale of billions of dollars, is an essential resource that will help people stay in their homes. I authored the eviction moratorium legislation as well as the extension precisely to allow the State more time to deliver these funds to property owners who are owed rent by tenants that have suffered financial hardship due to the pandemic. At the time we were extending the eviction moratorium to August 31, it was my understanding that the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance would start sending money out in June. It is well beyond that time frame. These failures are a dereliction of our state’s obligation to meet the needs of both tenants and property owners, and unless this money starts going out the door very soon — New Yorkers may soon be faced with an avalanche of eviction filings such as we have never seen before. OTDA needs to get their contractors together and figure out how to fix this huge mess before people start needlessly losing their homes.”

OTDA sent Capital Tonight the following statement:

“Test payments were made Monday and we are now ready to safely and efficiently deliver billions of dollars in rental assistance to New Yorkers after opening the program to applications within weeks of enactment in April. The program agreed to with the Legislature sets a 30-day period requiring the prioritization of more than 100,000 applications in order to target initial payments to those who need it most. That prioritization and review effort continues as new application and eligibility systems make it possible to provide payments only weeks after launch and, in the meantime, tenants who have submitted a completed application remain protected from eviction.”

OTDA said roughly 160,000 applications have been submitted for the program as of July 16 and more than 100,000 were submitted during the priority period in the first 30 days. The office adds that processing times vary based on how complete the applications are and if the correct documents are submitted.