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There are always unknowables in New York real estate. Now there is infinitely more uncertainty regardless of your individual situation. That’s what GoHomeNY is here for. GoHomeNY cares and wants to help you with helpful tips, resources and inspirations for living well through a crisis. 

4 Tips to Help Renters

 

Care for Renters in NYC

 

Want to know how you can help or need help? Any New Yorker’s affected by COVID-19 and needs help or wants to help those affected go to Help Now NYC.

 

Facts and Sites for Daily Updates

Want to know who to trust for factual information housing? The agencies tasked with oversight of NYC’s rental apartments are the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the state’s Division of Homes and Community Renewal (DHCR). Each one has its own guide to tenants’ rights during the coronavirus pandemic including that it’s illegal for New Yorkers to be evicted from their homes because they are sick or quarantined.

 

90 Day Eviction Moratorium for Residential and Commercial Tenants

On a state level, Cuomo has a eviction moratorium for residential and commercial tenants until August 20th. The policy protects tenants from losing their homes for three months, but those who miss rent payments will still have to pay back their landlords. There is an ongoing discussion with lawmakers and tenant advocates for additional relief with a rent forgiveness policy. Read Curbed’s article on GoHomeNY’s blog.

 

Still Have Questions?

Want to talk to someone about your particular situation? The Met Council on Housing operates a hotline for renters who have questions about their leases and landlord issues. Legal Aid Society provides legal help to tenants in Housing Court , but who cannot afford representation. Housing Court Answers also has a hotline for questions during this time.

Share your experiences on Gohomey.com. Your experiences may in turn help someone.

To share these helpful tips with other renters click here.

5 Tips to Help You Boost Your Immunity and Not Going Crazy In Your Apartment.

 

With the PAUSE order in effect in New York City until June, GoHomeNY has 5 tips to help you boost your immunity, remain calm and not go crazy in your apartment.

 

Visit a Museum Virtually.

Spending more time in your apartments is a great opportunity to learn something new - virtually. Experience New York City museums on Google’s Arts & Culture including the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper Hewitt. While other museums have virtual tours or exhibitions on their websites, including the Frick, the New York Public Library, The New York Transit Museum, and the Tenement Museum. On Twitter, follow #MuseumMomentoofZen to view items from many museum's collections.

 

Read One of NYPL’s 30,000 e-books.

New York Public Library and its branches are closed; however, @nypl has an app that allows anyone with a library card to “borrow” any of the 300,000 e-books in the NYPL’s collection.

 

Take a Class Online.

Have you always wanted to learn a new skill - or improve on what you already have? Coursera offers thousands of free (and paid) courses, including The Science of Well-Being. Khan Academy has classes for all ages. Pick a topic - math, arts, humanities, personal finance - to get a personalized and well-organized class. If you want to listen to classes, the University of Oxford Podcasts, has over 6,000 free podcasts organized by series including the “Secrets of Mathematics” and the “Future of Business.”

 

Take a Meditation Class.

Bodhi Heart is offering guided group meditation calls on Tuesday at 7PM to help you stay connected to yourself with courage, creativity and optimism. Helping you to reduce stress, which, in turn, will strengthen your immune system.

 

Support Your Community Online.

Want to contribute to your community. Many local small businesses, from bakeries and restaurants to exercise locations that are closed, are offering gift cards to use when they reopen. Go online and #supportsmall.

 

Connect with Nature.

Many city parks remain open, but you can also take virtual tours of parks through Google Arts & Culture and New York City Parks Department offers virtual tours of Central Park.

The Natural Areas Conservancy has an online map that charts the more than 20,000 acres of the city’s natural areas—forests, freshwater wetlands, and streams—if you want to experience nature.

The Japan Society is closed, but you can watch Dr. Yoshifumi Miyazaki’s talk on shinrin yoku, or “forest bathing” and the scientific evidence of this Japanese tradition of connecting with nature and trees to enhance wellness and happiness.  Dr. Miyazaki, former deputy director of Chiba University’s Center for Environment and author of Shinrin Yoku: The Japanese Art of Forest Bathing, discusses the healing power of trees.  A practice that you can enjoy wherever you live.

Cultured Forest, founded by Brooke Mellen, offers guided forest bathing sessions in Central Park.  Each session begins with a meditation and then do exercises to connect with a tree and walk.  Mellen who used to work in fine art insurance claims and as the risk manager at Sotheby’s studied forest therapy in Japan and Australia.

10 Essential Programs and Resources for Real Estate Professionals and Small Businesses

 

Overwhelmed with the news and constant updates on resources available to small businesses? GoHomeNY wants to help you navigate the current programs available through the CARES Act to support self-employed individuals, including real estate professionals, small businesses, sole proprietorships and independent contractors. The programs offered through the CARES Act continue to respond to the current situation. Below are some helpful resources to see if you are eligible for benefits and to file claims. We’ll continue to update the resources on the website as the programs and information available changes.

Self-employed individuals (i.e. Real Estate Sales and Brokers)

This includes real estate sales and brokers who file 1099’s who usually are not eligible for Unemployment Insurance. With the CARES Act, this group can apply for Pandemic Unemployment Compensation through the Unemployment Insurance program that provides $600/week in benefits.

If you are already receiving UI insurance benefits, the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation will provide you with an additional 13 weeks of UI benefits for 39 weeks of coverage and an additional $600. File claims online. It may require you to call (888) 209-8124 to complete your claim. To get an actual person on the phone is a bit of a challenge because of the number of people filing UI insurance.  UI is now calling people who have filed a claim online and are required to speak with someone to complete the claim.

Small Businesses, Sole Proprietorships, Independent Contractors and Self-employed individuals

For small business owners, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering programs to help businesses affected by Coronavirus. The programs are available for businesses and nonprofits in operations as of February 15, 2020 including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and self-employed individuals. The programs include:

Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) is now available with the incentive of helping small businesses keep their workers on the payroll. The PPP loan is for 8 weeks and it must use the loan for payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities only. The PPP fund for up to 250% of the monthly payroll for a 2 year loan at 1% interest. The program will be available through June 30, 2020. The Small Business Association has information on the program and how to apply, Fortune has a list of banks who are taking part in the program, and NYC Score is providing free video and email business mentoring services to help small businesses navigate the loan process.

Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) of up to $2M have maturities of up to 30 years. Pricing is 3.75% for businesses, 2.75% for nonprofits. The loan requires a credit check and is the determining factor in a business’ approval. Visit the SBA for more information and to apply and Inc.’s article on the loans’ caveats.

The Small Business Debt Relief Program covers all interest, principal payments and fees on new or existing non-emergency SBA loans (7A, 504, microloans) for six months.

The NYC Small Business Continuity Loan Program paused applications April 8th because of the overwhelming interest. Sign up with the NYC Department of Small Businesses to receive updates on its programs.

The New York Community Trust's NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund is offering loans and grants to NYC-based nonprofits. Priority will be given to nonprofits healthcare and food insecurity; arts organizations are also eligible.

Score NYC also has Crowdfunding resources, such as, Kiva and Mainvest.

Facebook plans to provide funding and advertising credits. Although the program is not available yet, sign up to receive updates on when grants will be offered.

Google also announced plans to provide $340M in advertising credits to small businesses who have been advertising with Google since the beginning of 2019.