Undocumented immigrants are allowed to participate in de Blasio's "affordable" housing program

NY1

The de Blasio administration is easing requirements to enter the city's lotteries for affordable housing. With the changes, many more undocumented immigrants will be eligible to land one of the hard-to-get apartments, which are subsidized by city taxpayers.

• Every adult member of a household needs to enter their Social Security number or tax ID number for a family to enter the affordable housing lottery. Now, you won't need either for any member of your family
• This is being done to eliminate the need for a credit check and, according to the de Blasio administration, make entering the lottery more fair
• City officials consider the opening up of the lottery to so many undocumented immigrants an additional benefit

"It completely opens the floodgates," says Ana Nuñez, of Churches United For Fair Housing, a nonprofit organization.

 New Yorkers entered the city's affordable housing lotteries 4,654,603 times last year. Only 7,857 "won" the right to an apartment with below-market rent.

But now the de Blasio administration is dropping its requirement that applicants have a Social Security or a TIN, a Tax Identification Number. The city says the numbers are no longer needed because it is eliminating credit checks. The change will have the effect of opening the lottery to many more undocumented immigrants, who do not have Social Security numbers and are reluctant to apply for a tax ID number.

Nuñez is a housing ambassador, helping people apply for the affordable housing lottery.

Undocumented immigrants, she says, "confide in me. They don't have a social security number or a TIN … They may fear that if they apply especially with this administration they might face some repercussion … so that is now a huge barrier that has been eliminated."

 The de Blasio administration says President Trump's get-tough policies toward the undocumented are a major reason for the change.

\"The Trump Administration has created a chilling effect," says Margy Brown, the associate commissioner of housing opportunity and program services, in the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

What a cynical reason to make applying for this bullshit program much harder. Bad enough that it's very difficult to even qualify for them if you aren't in the right income range. There are already 60,000 homeless people who are American citizens, most of them families. How long will they have to bunch up with their relatives or forced to live in hotels? Which is still going on because de Blasio's shelter program is taking too long. As expected from Mayor Big Slow

NY Post 

New Yorkers with family members in the country illegally will be able to more easily apply for the city’s highly competitive affordable housing lotteries as part of broader rules changes announced by City Hall on Wednesday, which are meant to expand eligibility.
The new rules will allow applicants to provide proof they pay their rent on time instead of submitting for a formal credit check, which required prospective tenants to put down their Social Security or taxpayer identification numbers.
“For too long, families without access to credit have faced barriers to the affordable housing they need,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio in a statement. “By allowing New Yorkers to submit rental history instead of credit checks, we are creating a fairer system for all New Yorkers.”

 "It’s just the latest idiotic idea to come out of this administration,” said Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Queens). “The mayor is setting up people to fail and is doing a disservice to New Yorkers who desperately need affordable housing."

One question that has not been brought up at all about this "program" and the impossibility to get in and it came from social media; Why is there a lottery for something one needs to survive: housing?