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NYC Housing Officials are $50 Million Short of Their Current Needs

Families in Harlem and Morningside Heights may soon be working harder to pay their rent. The New York City Housing Authority has received $50 million less than it needs to meet current expenses for the Housing Choice Voucher program, formerly known as Section 8, which helps low-income families pay their rent. Section 8 is the main program that subsidizes housing for the city’s poor has been shortchanged by the federal government. Unless the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development provides more money, NYCHA will have to curtail new vouchers to help with rent or limit payments to landlords. The cutbacks are part of the Bush administration’s long-term efforts to restructure housing and community development programs by changing the formulae for distributing funds in some areas and reshuffling other programs within the government bureaucracy. Families receiving Section 8 assistance pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, and the government pays the balance up to a reasonable rent for a geographic area. When asked about the prospects for families waiting for Section 8, a spokesman for NYCHA put it bluntly—“No vouchers for the foreseeable future.” In recent years, the supply of vouchers has become tighter. One hundred twenty-three thousand families are on NYCHA’s waiting list. The New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal, which administers a statewide Section 8 program, has its own list of approximately 35,000 interested families. Both agencies have closed their waiting lists to new applicants. [more]