More signs of the relentless economic decline. These are the canaries in the coal mine:

http://gothamist.com/2009/12/18/due_to_funding_issues_city_slashes.php

Due To Funding Issues, City Cancels 3,000 Section 8 Vouchers

Yesterday, the New York City Housing Authority revoked over 3,000 Section 8 vouchers, citing "Congress, a lower-than-usual attrition rate in the program and unprecedented demand." This means that thousands of families may try to enter the city's already overflowing shelters.

Federal Section 8 vouchers allow poor (and elderly and disabled) tenants to pay just 30% of their incomes towards rents in private apartments, with the government picking up the rest. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was outraged, telling NY1, "[The NYCHA] knew this in May. They didn't let anybody know. People were walking around thinking they have an affordable housing unit, the potential for that, and they don't." But the NYCHA says they waited until the last possible moment, in hopes that funding would be restored.

One man who showed up at a NYCHA office—with a signed lease in hand— to find out his voucher was worth nothing told the News, "They said, 'There's no money.' They wouldn't take the voucher," and added that his 5-year-old son said, "Daddy, what are we going to do? Are we going to have to go back to the shelter again?"

[1] | zodak

there may be some elderly & disabled Section 8 recipients but the majority are listless thugs who deface & devalue buildings & neighborhoods. the free ride ends now!
Reply | December 18, 2009 9:53 AM
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scrappymcgee replied to comment from zodak

And aspiring rappers that are good kids.
Reply | December 18, 2009 9:59 AM
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schadenfreudian mensch replied to comment from scrappymcgee

who has a hobby of collecting semi-automatics and shooting it sideways just like the movies pew pew pew.
Reply | December 18, 2009 10:49 AM
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[2] | changcheung

Amen.
Reply | December 18, 2009 9:57 AM
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[4] | GOP

Is he really the daddy of the 5-year old? Maury Povich wants to find out for certain.
Reply | December 18, 2009 10:05 AM
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[5] | hotstepper

i'm fine with that fiscal responsibility, if there's no money there's no money. they'll have to stop suckling the cash from my taxpayer teat and make their own.
Reply | December 18, 2009 10:16 AM
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[6] | Clarice City

Time to move upstate. Plenty of jobs and cheap housing in Fishkill. I was driving through there the other day and there's a thriving latin american community, plenty of apartments and even some help wanted signs. Why do people with no job insist on living in Manhattan? Am I missing something here? I'm all for mixing it up- economiclly speaking, but jeeze...
Reply | December 18, 2009 10:33 AM
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Think twice replied to comment from Clarice City

I blame the cheesy songs about this city.

♫If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere...♫

♫Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do...♫

And to this day folks actually buy into this crap. People, don't bother moving here unless you've got an actual job or school waiting for you.
Reply | December 18, 2009 1:15 PM
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Stewart replied to comment from Clarice City

I totally agree. You can be on welfare and jobless anywhere. Why not move somewhere warmer?

Middle class people with families who actually pay taxes have to commute and hour or more to get their job in Manhattan while unproductive non-contributing members of society live here for practically free. That's just wrong.
Reply | December 18, 2009 5:16 PM
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[7] | HOTCUP

you're all afraid of black people and you have never been within 3 blocks of a section 8 project.

this is potentially the end for thousands of people, and you morons actually think they deserve it. that's not funny, you people need serious adjustment. i'd start with glen beck, being that he's probably a little more left than you're used to, and then slowly work my way back actual social awareness.

run along, go have fun with your white privilege on some ski slope. (oh i'm sorry, was that an unfair generalization of you people?)
Reply | December 18, 2009 10:45 AM
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whitecastlerock replied to comment from HOTCUP

Yeah all Section 8 tenants are black-sure they are. Get the facts straight before you start calling people morons.
Reply | December 18, 2009 10:57 AM
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HOTCUP replied to comment from whitecastlerock

yeah sure, because even if my post actually communicated that i believe this, it would negate the point. as if the first thing that you and most people on this site think about when they hear "section 8" are non-blacks.

and in case your sarcasm radar is still broken, take a look back at how many times the word "animal" comes up any time public housing is discussed on gothamist.
Reply | December 18, 2009 11:25 AM
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hotstepper replied to comment from HOTCUP

i'm all for cutting back on entitlements in NYS and NYC. this has nothing to do with race (though it does appear you're having fun getting all self-righteous and huffy about it) this is about providing for your own damn self.

you seem to have some racial bias of your own that you may want to deal with. let the healing begin.
Reply | December 18, 2009 11:35 AM
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whitecastlerock replied to comment from HOTCUP

Yeah sarcasm radar, funny. I just have a bullshit meter and you are quite full of it. Spare me the lectures on how I should react to this news. I didn't call people animals-I am disgusted that able bodied adults, procreate with impunity, expect handouts and are aghast when they are told they are being cut off. Aren't you?
Reply | December 18, 2009 12:42 PM
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Boogie Down replied to comment from HOTCUP

Um, I live *right* next door to a housing project and the vast majority of its occupants are Hispanic (primarily Puerto Rican, if the flags are any indication). So, for you to associate black people with housing projects is pretty damned racist. If, in fact, you are black, then maybe you have self-loathing issues. Whatever the case may be, you're pretty misinformed on this one.

BTW, my "white privilege" doesn't really exist, believe it or not. I grew up relatively poor, started working at 15 so I could save for college, and at 20 was finally able to afford to attend. I paid my whole way without any student loans by maintaining part-time employment throughout my Bachelor's and Master's degrees. Don't be so presumptuous, and don't always make it into a race issue.
Reply | December 18, 2009 11:27 AM
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Clarice City replied to comment from HOTCUP

Wow! You are jumping to some wild and patently racist (ie. all sec. 8 recipients are black!) conclusions. I, for one have lived near section 8 housing more than a few times when I lived in Brooklyn and live within walking distance of the projects on 11th ave.

How many white people do you even know come from privilege? Just about everyone I know is middle class and public school educated. Do a little research before sounding off your racist and generalized opinions.

And for the record, the most racist family I have ever met in my life was my college sweetheart's Chinese family. They told him, point blank, not to marry me because I am white.
Reply | December 18, 2009 11:31 AM
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schadenfreudian mensch replied to comment from Clarice City

And yet Chinese families don't seem to have a big problem with white men banging and marrying their Chinese daughters. I guess they really don't give a shit what happens to Chinese women.

And for the record everyone has some degree of racial hangups it's just the Chinese were more blatant than everyone else with all their P.C. bullshit.
Reply | December 18, 2009 2:19 PM
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Trilby16 replied to comment from HOTCUP

I agree with you hotcup. People posting here are just mean. There are genuinely needy people in NY and very few affordable housing options. Move to Fishkill? Great idea! Howver it takes money to move and then you need a car to get anywhere. Have some compassion. If you yourself don't need section 8 or food stamps or whatever, good for you! Other people have a harder life.
Reply | December 18, 2009 12:22 PM
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Boogie Down replied to comment from Trilby16

Oh, please. I could have easily ridden through life on excuses given the meager beginnings from which I came. However, I CHOSE to make education a priority in my life and am therefore not reliant on others for my survival. Most people who reside in housing projects or are on Section 8 are there because they have made extremely poor life choices, and quite often have little to no interest in making changes that would improve their quality of life. Now, don't get me wrong, I have NO problem helping out people who are down on their luck and need to get a leg up. What I have a problem with is supporting an entire lifetime (and several generations) of people whose primary concern in life is getting one over. Perhaps I wouldn't feel so strongly about this if so many recipients of public assistance didn't walk around with a terrible attitude, acting like the rest of us aren't doing ENOUGH for them. Seriously, get a clue.
Reply | December 18, 2009 12:55 PM
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[10] | JacqueMehoff

they're not canceling any current sec 8 recipients just the one's who are currently in the system but has not yet found a landlord who accepts these vouchers and they're not issuing any more vouchers. that's what I'm getting from the NYT link.
it still means people will be left out in the cold.
I wonder how many Sec 8 recipients are in some areas that voted heavily for bloomberg? hmmmm...the one's who can get a bike lane removed. (Kievsky note -- this is a reference to Hassidic jews )
Reply | December 18, 2009 11:04 AM
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[15] | Billiamsburg

criminals. if they got jobs instead of standing on the sidewalk 'spitting rhymes' hoping p-daddy will drive by in his hummer limo and 'discover' them maybe they wouldn't need to be a parasite off my income.
Reply | December 18, 2009 12:02 PM
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[19] | Think twice

"Keeping the Promise"

Promise = Entitlement.
Reply | December 18, 2009 1:09 PM
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[22] | NannyState

If they had a job, they'd be collecting unemployment benefits right now instead of section 8 vouchers. The bums.
Reply | December 18, 2009 3:21 PM
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[24] | ANGRYGOD11

There's a lot of delusions about Section 8 housing.
First, it's NOT FREE, but the tenant pays a percentage of their low income.
Second, the alternative is more homeless families. Shelter housing is a much more expensive option, short and long-term.
Third, good luck finding nice housing in a good neighborhood with Section 8. The process is a nightmare for landlords and most won't deal with it, unless they're desperate.
Reply | December 18, 2009 5:38 PM