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$37M cut from Section 8 rental subsidy program

Dept. of Housing and Preservation will rescind dozens of vouchers; has stopped issuing new ones

Vicki Been, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development commissioner
Vicki Been, NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development commissioner

Budget cuts to a federal Section 8 rental voucher program have cost it roughly $37 million.

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Under the $400 million-a-year program, low- and middle-income tenants are able to pay for apartments in private New York City properties. The city Department of Housing and Preservation will now rescind dozens of vouchers, and has stopped issuing new ones. The agency declared more than 9,000 households “overhoused,” the New York Times reported. Tenants who were expecting a Section 8 voucher have been advised to relocate to smaller, more affordable apartments. If they were stay where they are, they were told to prepare to pay a steeper rent as a result of the smaller subsidy, the newspaper said. Roughly 120,000 households in the city receive these vouchers.

“Vouchers are absolutely critical to help this lowest income band, but they also help landlords who are fairly low-income themselves,” Vicki Been, the agency’s commissioner, told the Times. “They shore up critical building stock that’s often left untouched by city programs.” [NYT]Mark Maurer

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