With rents rising, city landlords look to exit federal subsidy programs

With rents skyrocketing, city landlords are looking to drop out of federal affordable housing programs for the first time since the housing peak.

According to the New York Daily News, the Parkview Gardens, a 127-unit, Section 8 complex in Flatbush, and Meadow Manor, a Mitchell Lama building in Queens, have both filed plans to leave the programs by the beginning of next year. No buildings has left the program thus far in 2011, while 79 subsidized buildings shedded the affordable designation during the boom between 2003 and 2007.

“One of the very few silver linings of the housing market collapsing was that that trend really subsided and there’s been very few subsidized buildings lost over the last few years,” said Emily Goldstein, an organizer at advocacy group Tenants and Neighbors. “The uptick is going to start again as the housing market starts to recover.”

By exiting the program, landlords can charge market rates once tenants move out. Though eligible tenants can get a voucher to help pay rent, Parkview Gardens residents told the Daily News they’re worried about being pressured to leave. [NYDN]