A state rental assistance program has distributed close to $95 million in funding to help nearly 15,000 New York City Housing Authority households pay off their overdue rent, Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday.

Their announcement came months after Hochul and state legislators inked a budget deal that included $391 million in funds dedicated to rental arrears assistance across the state.

At a news conference, Hochul said that while New York’s economy has bounced back significantly since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many New Yorkers are still struggling to pay rent.

“For countless New Yorkers who live in public housing, they still live in uncertainty and the instability caused by the pandemic, because it’s never really gone away,” she said. “And that’s why we’re here today. We’re going to give rental assistance to the New Yorkers who need it the most.”

NYCHA households that qualified for the program were provided up to 12 months of financial relief for unpaid rent accumulated during the pandemic, the governor said in a news release.

Adams on Monday said the influx of funding was “not spending. This is investing.”

“When you invest in NYCHA, you are investing in the future,” he said. “We’ve been through tough times making ends meet, the pandemic, dealing with all the other crises, but the emergency rental assistance program is the right thing to do.”