Owner of Large Flatbush Building Wants to Exit Section 8

While it was commonplace during the boom years for owners of large rental complexes to drop out of affordable housing programs, it hasn’t been much of a trend lately, but that may be changing. The Daily News reports that the landlord of the 127-apartment Parkview Gardens in Flatbush has filed plans to leave the Section 8 program. According to the story, there has only been an application for one other building in the city to exit Mitchell Lama or Section 8 this year, but the Parkview Gardens plans worry tenant advocates: “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,” says Emily Goldstein of Tenants and Neighbors. While Section 8 vouchers would still be accepted at the building for residents who already use them, the landlord would be able to charge market-rate rent on vacated apartments, causing some renters to worry that they’ll be under pressure to move. “He’s trying to get out most of the people in the complex, especially people who have lived there a long time, to rent at a cost that is unaffordable to us,” says one tenant who’s lived there for 12 years.
Tenants at Parkview Gardens Fear Owner’s Plan Will Drop Section 8 [NY Daily News]
Photo of a rally to preserve affordability at Parkview Gardens via Tenants and Neighbors