For the second round, which lasted from Dec. 18 through Feb. 1, HCR expanded eligibility requirements in an effort to get more funds out the door. Households did not need to have been considered rent burdened—defined as spending more than 30% of monthly income on rent—prior to the pandemic to qualify for relief. HCR reviewed all applications found ineligible in phase one, including those on appeal, to determine if they qualified under the the program’s revised rules. Gothamist reported in late March that the second round of the program had distributed $7 million and that roughly 1,000 new households had qualified for relief.