Thursday, September 30, 2010

Public housing residents behind on their rent

From the NY Times:

In a sign of the toll the dismal economy has taken on working families in New York, more than 1 in 10 households living in public housing owe at least one month in back rent, a rise of nearly 50 percent over the past year.

Though the city has always had to deal with a number of public housing tenants who are chronically late with their rent, housing officials are now confronting a significant rise in longtime tenants who never before missed a payment but are falling behind, in many cases because they have lost their jobs.

Across the city, tenants of nearly 22,000 public housing apartments, or about 12 percent of the total, owed back rent as of Aug. 31, according to the New York City Housing Authority, which runs the largest public housing system in the United States. The comparable figure in August 2009 was about 15,200.

“When you have, like any landlord, a laser-beam focus on rent collection, you sometimes miss the bigger picture,” said John B. Rhea, the housing authority’s chairman. “What’s happening is that we’re seeing substantial increases in the number of people not paying their rent on time.”

The problem is the worst in Queens, where the number of households owing back rent increased nearly 70 percent between August 2009 and last month, to 2,424 from 1,431. In six of the public housing developments in the western part of the borough, more tenants missed payments than anyplace else in the city, according to Housing Authority statistics. At the Astoria Houses, for example, the number more than doubled, to 157 households from 64; the latest number is 14 percent of the development’s 1,103 apartments.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

If u live w/ rent control, you are already subsidized by landowners and other taxpayers. EVICT them. If I was behind on rent/mortgage I would be evicted/foreclosed. I would accept that. I am no ward of the state.

How about another bailout? The only people who get zero govt assistance are those who manage their debt wisely and dont get in over their head.

i.e. the people who spend smart end up subsidizing the stupes who buy things they cant afford.

Obama blames the banks. The US is sinkin fast because subsidizing laziness and stupidity is the norm.

Anonymous said...

Give them the apartments already. Government doesn't belong in the housing business. Let them keep them or sell them and get out of Dodge.

Anonymous said...

Well, at least Queensbridge and Ravenswood has the millstones.

No librarians, but Baloney Maloney and Henny Penny knows what's best!

Anonymous said...

Elmezzi is doing a fine job at community building, eh?

Anonymous said...

These people pay rent? I thought the reason they're in PH is because they're all welfare cases. They get vouchers, and free everything right? You can't get kicked out-- it's New York. Takes 20 years, right?

Anonymous said...

The point of the article is that they dont pay rent.

Anonymous said...

Public housing is gross, those projects are so ugly, bulldoze them!

Anonymous said...

Evict the tenants that can't pay. How long can the taxpayers pay for them. Projects were supposed to be a temporary residence until the occupants could get on their feet and move out. Get the government out of the housing business. You see what a mess they have made of it. If you can't afford to live in NYC, then move somewhere cheaper and let those taxpayers foot the bill. NY is done.

Anonymous said...

Bulldoze the projects!! they're so ugly anyway, doesn't anyone want to improve themselves??? how can people live generation after generation in these wretched buildings??? ugh..

Anonymous said...

Too busy buying rims instead of paying the rent.

Anonymous said...

Maybe if there were some jobs for these people, they wouldn't have to live there.

Bunch of self-serving dumb asses here. I hope you lose your poxy little jobs and get thrown out on the street with your sorry-assed Gucci bags and STARVE. Then maybe you would have some compassion for those who are LESS FORTUNATE THAN YOU.

Anonymous said...

Instead of leasing a Lexus,go with the Toyota......

Anonymous said...

"Maybe if there were some jobs for these people, they wouldn't have to live there."

They were living there for years, even during the booming economy of the Clinton years. Get real. It's not about jobs, it's a whole culture of laziness and entitlement.

Anonymous said...

"Maybe if there were some jobs for these people, they wouldn't have to live there."

They are often 3rd and 4th gen tennants. This is their cultural lifestyle. Many wouldnt WANT to move out. I know of people who are tryignt o get into PH. They can afford to live in regular apartments, but want to be in PH because its cheaper!

I remember a time when being in PH, or on Welfare or food stamps was an embarrassment. Now, its a goal!