“A popular small-business rent assistance program that was cut by the de Blasio’s administration in the latest budget negotiations has been re-instated following a Crain’s New York Business report.
The de Blasio administration announced that it would extend the Department of Small Business Services’ Commercial Lease Assistance Program. It will be refunded to the tune of $1.5 million in 2021, a $300,000 increase from previous years.
The program provides pre-litigations, legal services related to commercial tenant and landlord disputes involving lease terminations, lease renewals, breaches of contract, and landlord harassment.
The Commercial Lease Assistance Program had been a three-year program funded at $1.2 million per year between 2018 and this year. The administration said its free legal services have to date resolved more than 900 cases between landlords and their commercial tenants.
“This program is one of the programs that is critical to keeping our small businesses running and making sure they have the resources they need and that they have support,” SBS Commissioner Jonnel Doris said.
