Results tagged “section8”

In an apparent first, six women posed as victims of domestic violence in order to jump to the top of the wait-list for government subsidized apartments, officials say. Over 127,000 families are on the New York City Housing Authority’s waiting list for Section 8 vouchers, which can be worth thousands of dollars a year. Qualifying tenants who get the vouchers pay 30 percent of their adjusted gross income toward the rent, and the government picks up the rest. And these women, who were all arrested over a period of four months, almost got away with it!

Yesterday, Representative Charles Rangel announced that he and other lawmakers, per the NY Post, "persuaded landlords in four of six 'at-risk' buildings not to opt out of Section 8 government-subsidy contracts." Which meant Rangel--of the four (now three) rent-stabilized apartments--had an opportunity to be photographed with supporters holding up signs like "Champion of preservation" and for City Council member Inez Dickens to tell him, "You have our back, and now we are here for you." Not everyone was happy with Rangel--one person told the NY Times, Rangel "wants we all to think that he’s there for the people, but deep down inside, he doesn’t care.”

The Mayor and City Council are facing off over housing regulations that could lower barriers to low-income tenants receiving federal housing vouchers to subsidize their rents. The City Council is attempting to pass a law which would make it harder for landlords to refuse Section 8 tenants, but Mayor Bloomberg just vetoed the Council-passed law.

Housing activists and some City Council members believe that New York City needs a law prohibiting landlords from discriminating from potential tenants using federal rent vouchers. The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program gives low-income families the opportunity to rent apartments while paying only 30% of the rent; the remaining portion is covered by the vouchers. The Times explains that "Eligible households are those earning no more than 50 percent of the metropolitan area’s median income, or no more than about $35,000 for a family of four in New York," while the rent limits are "$1,069 for a one-bedroom and $1,556 for a four-bedroom."

Yesterday, the New School held a forum to discuss how New York City will save its public housing. The New York City Housing Authority, which is the city's primary sources of affordable housing to 400,000 residents, has an annual shortfall of $225 million.