Manhattan DA nabs Section 8 thieves

Six New York City residents were arrested and charged this week with fraudulently obtaining low-income housing subsidies from the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Section 8 program, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced today. Five of the defendants are alleged to have stolen between $5,775 and $76,000 apiece worth of Section 8 subsidies, which they obtained by submitting false information on their applications and income affidavits. In the sixth case, an individual acting as president of the tenants’ association poached some $97,000 from the bank accounts of 244-46 Elizabeth Street while it was part of the city’s Tenant Interim Lease Program. The program provides financing for renovations of city-owned buildings while they are being converted to cooperative ownership; the former tenants’ association president is now being held on $100,000 bail and could face jail time. TRD