Tenant owes back rent from COVID. How to help?

[Ryan Miller]

What have a tenant within a four unit who had voiced concern about continuing to make rent payments during the pandemic. We provided them a reduced rate which equated to a nominal debt of $500. Obviously, we have considered both forgiving the debt and increasing their current rent to make up for the short fall. However, I remember seeing an article on rent relief for landlords that would be sparked from paperwork filed by the tenant. In this instance, I think this would work well as we maintain a very positive relationship with our tenants and this one in particular was appreciative of our approach. Does anyone have information regarding this process? We live in New York State.