NY rent relief checks finally are on the way — but will money get out for all before deadline?

ALBANY — Finally, after months of delays and harsh criticism, the Cuomo administration is beginning to send out rent relief checks to help tenants and landlords in arrears because of the pandemic.

But lawmakers say it might not be fast enough for a looming deadline for renters.

A state agency sent out a small batch of checks to landlords earlier this week — eight months after the $2.4 billion in federal rent relief began flowing into New York and three months after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and lawmakers approved legislation to get the program going.

The small disbursement — amounting to $117,000 — was meant to test the distribution system, a spokesman for the Office of Temporary Disability Assistance said.

It went smoothly, and a greater volume is expected to go out beginning Friday. Legislators are still warning it might not be soon enough to prevent an "avalanche" of eviction filings when a state eviction moratorium expires Aug. 31.

"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," OTDA spokesman Justin Mason said in an email.

Now the task is to get relief to the more than 160,000 applicants. The overwhelming bulk of them — more than 91,000 — are in New York City. Nassau County had 628 applicants at the end of June; Suffolk County, 233.

Republican and Democratic legislators have criticized the administration for the lengthy delay, noting other states are far ahead of New York and began issuing checks months ago.

"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," said Assemb. Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) in a statement Thursday.

Dinowitz added: "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."

The Assembly will hold a hearing Aug. 10 to assess how well the rent relief program is working as the end of the eviction moratorium nears.

Early Thursday, Senate Republicans called the delay an "abject failure" of Cuomo and the Democratic-controlled State Legislature.

After the administration announced checks would be going out Friday, Sen. Pamela Helming (R-Canandaigua) said: "The release of these funds is an important step forward. Our conference has led the efforts in recovering these funds, and we will continue to make sure relief is delivered in an expeditious manner."

Earlier this year, Cuomo officials defended the deliberate roll out. Among other things, the administration didn’t want to replicate the massive delays that marred unemployment disbursements during the pandemic.

"These are massive, complicated programs," Cuomo said the day the Legislature extended the eviction moratorium through August. "Both the tenant relief and small business relief, you have to write regulations. You have to make sure there’s no fraud."