Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
Nelson King, Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean Life, A 10 UG. 27-SEPT. 2, 2021
By Rachel Sabella
The checks are in the
mail.
This July, millions of
households across the country
and hundreds of thousands
right here in New York
started receiving additional
money through the Child
Tax Credit secured by President
Biden and the Congress
earlier this year.
We’ve seen a wave of new
programs, stimulus money
and unemployment benefits
flow to Americans hit hard
by the pandemic. But the
Child Tax Credit expansion
is different. In fact, it could
be one of the most powerful
anti-poverty tools we’ve ever
had in this country.
According to estimates,
the changes to the Child
Tax Credit this year could
help an additional 39 million
households across the
country this year and lift as
many as 5 million kids out
of poverty. And the emerging
consensus is that the
expanded Child Tax Credit
is so effective, it could cut
child poverty in half.
It couldn’t come at a more
crucial time. The pandemic
plunged millions of families
into economic hardship. It
erased a decade of progress
reducing child hunger. For
a state where nearly one in
five kids is raised in poverty,
the Child Tax Credit could
be a game-changer.
But only if the families
who need it most take the
steps to secure their own
benefit.
The Child Tax Credit has
been around for decades.
Most parents are familiar
with it from filing personal
income taxes each year.
Until this year, it maxed out
at $2,000 annually. That’s
hardly enough to cover the
costs of raising a child, but
for a low-income household,
it can help cover critical
expenses.
Now, because of the pandemic,
Washington has
upsized the benefit to $3,000
annually, and $3,600 for
each child under six. That’s
a meaningful increase for
families struggling to make
ends meet.
But the biggest change
is that families who don’t
earn enough income to file
income taxes now qualify for
the benefit, too. Until this
year, they were excluded. It’s
counterintuitive, but historically,
the families who
needed the Child Tax Credit
the most have never even
qualified for it.
Now, every family will
see this benefit—but only
if newly eligible families
take the time to enroll. If
you didn’t receive this payment
in July or August, go
to GetCTC.org/strength to
sign up. Tell your friends
and family members with
kids. Make an announcement
at your local church or
religious service.
The beauty of this benefit
is that it can be used for anything—
and so families end
up using it on what’s most
essential for them. And we
see time and time again that
it helps families’ budgets
where they struggle most—
putting food on the table.
When families face fixed
expenses like rent and utilities,
they are forced to cut
back where they can—and
too often that’s food. The
latest data shows one in four
kids here in New York City
could face food insecurity
this year. Those are households
where mom or dad
is forced to skip meals to
give their kids enough to
eat, or days toward the end
of the month when there’s
not enough money to buy
groceries.
Food insecurity affects
how kids do in school. It
affects their physical and
mental development. And it
fosters a negative cycle of
poverty unless we break it.
This year’s expanded
Child Tax Credit is one of the
most powerful tools we’ve
ever had in our fight against
child hunger. We can’t let
any family leave that money
on the table.
Spread the word.
The sooner families sign
up, the sooner we can get
them benefits.
And the sooner we can
decisively turn the tide
against child poverty in New
York.
Rachel Sabella is the
Director of No Kid Hungry
New York.
By Congresswoman Carolyn
B. Maloney (N-12)
Americans all across the
country are dealing with the
economic crises wrought by
coronavirus pandemic — with
too many families struggling to
keep a roof over their heads.
As a city that is home to millions
of renters, New Yorkers
know this pain far too well.
That is why my colleagues
and I fought to include $46 billion
dollars in rental assistance
in the December 2020 Coronavirus
relief package and the
American Rescue Plan (ARP).
Approximately $2.3 billion of
this total is designated for New
York State.
Now that Congress has
appropriated these funds, New
York State is responsible for getting
these funds to New Yorkers
through the NY State Emergency
Rental Assistance Program
(ERAP), which opened on June
1, 2021.
As of Aug. 16, New York State
has approved 8,200 applications,
disbursed $114 million in rental
assistance and marked another
$600 million to be disbursed.
However, the backlog — and
therefore people waiting for help
– is overwhelming. In the first
30 days alone, the State received
120,000 applications.
I am pleased that the State
has committed to ending the
backlog by Aug. 31, which is
the expiration date for the State
Eviction Moratorium. However,
as I wrote on July 21 when I
urged the State to process these
applications as quickly as possible,
if necessary, we may need
to extend the state’s eviction
moratorium.
Given the spread of the delta
variant and rise in COVID-19
cases throughout the city, it
would be dangerous and shortsighted
to resume evictions
without providing the rental
assistance that New Yorkers
need and deserve. We need people
to have a safe place to sleep,
eat, and social distance. Kicking
people out of their homes is
antithetical to that.
If you need rental
assistance, please apply
today online (https://nysrenthelp.
otda.ny.gov/). Both the
rental and owner/landlord need
to fill out parts of the application
and this can take time.
There are also communitybased
organizations available to
help you through this process,
you can find a list of them on
the Office of Temporary and
Disability Assistance’s website
(https://otda.ny.gov/programs/
emergency-rental-assistance/
help-applying/).
While both the landlord and
the renter must complete certain
parts of the application and
either a renter or an owner/
landlord can start an application,
only the tenant can sign
and submit the application. If
your landlord starts the application,
you will receive an email
or text to complete the required
tenant part.
Filling for the Emergency
Rental Assistance Program
(ERAP) may also help you if
your landlord does not act in
good faith. If it’s determined
that a renter is eligible for this
assistance and the landlord cannot
be contacted to provide the
necessary information, the State
will hold these funds for 180
days. Renters will receive written
notification of the available
rental assistance and should
share this with the landlord.
OP-EDS
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End hunger and poverty for
thousands of NY’s children
Help for renters
Photo via Getty Images
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