Council Member Morano questions DSS on split rental subsidy payments

Thank you.

Councilor Vermarano.

Thank you.

Commissioner, you say that DSS issues its portion of rental payments on the 26th and that landlords...

enrolled in electronic payments receive the money within 24 hours.

But you also explained that the state's shelter allowance is paid in two installments at the beginning and middle of the month.

So even when the city does everything correctly, is it possible for a landlord to receive only part of the total rental subsidy at the beginning of the month?

Yes, that is absolutely correct.

Right.

We can control the piece that we can control, and we pay, as you said, on the 26th for the upcoming month.

But, right, the state pays in two tranches for people who are receiving that shelter allowance.

And so, in fact, of course, the landlord could receive up to four payments, one from us, two from the state, and then the tenant portion.

Does DSS provide landlords with a payment calendar showing exactly how much is coming from the city, how much is coming from the state, and when each payment should arrive?

I know we, and I'll defer, but I know we are clear at the beginning and request, require the landlord to sign off on the payment process.

But I'll defer to see if there's any additional communication about a schedule.

Thank you for that question, Commissioner.

So at the approval point in the process, the landlord do get an approval notice that shows the payment amount.

Certainly over time that may change.

And so we are looking to update the system so that we would send out additional notices.

We're not quite there yet.

It's one of the enhancements.

But as I shared earlier.

In the landlord portal, you're now able to see the government portion.

So you can see the subsidy amount and you can see the shelter allowance amount.

So then the only other portion is the client direct share.

I guess I'm wondering, does the landlord portal currently distinguish between an actual missed payment and a payment that hasn't arrived yet because of the state's schedule?

I have to get back to you.

I'm not sure the status.

We'll have to confirm the language as to what's listed there.

It definitely shows the payments made.

I'm not sure if it would indicate a, say, missed payment from the state WMS system, but we can get back to you.

Would you support making that distinction visible to every participating landlord if it's not, Peretti?

Yeah, not that I get to ask the questions here, but to ask my colleagues a clarifying question, and maybe it's clear because the amounts are different anyway, but when we say the government portion, does it indicate the city portion versus the state portion?

Thank you for that, Commissioner.

Yes, it does say the subsidy portion.

There's a code, I think it's SE, and it says subsidy portion, and then you'll see the shelter allowance portion.

So it would seem to be that we're transparent about that now and that it would be clear.

if there was, in fact, a missed payment from the system.