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Nearly 40 Sunset Park Buildings to Remain in Section 8 Program

By Nikhita Venugopal | January 16, 2015 1:03pm
 Tenants celebrated Thursday night with the announcement that their landlord would stay in the Section 8 housing program for another five years.
Sunset Park Section 8 Affordable Housing
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SUNSET PARK — Tenants in almost 40 buildings that receive subsidies will continue to pay lower rents after the landlord agreed to stay in the federal program, officials said Thursday.

Property owner and landlord E&M Associates will renew its contracts for another five years through a project-based program called Section 8, in which the federal government pays a share of the apartment rent.

For months, tenants have feared losing their homes or facing huge increases in rent after receiving a warning notice last summer that said the landlord did “not intend to renew the current Section 8 contracts when it expires.”

“[The landlord] is going to remain in the program,” Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez announced to a room full of tenants and housing advocates Thursday night in the basement of a Sixth Avenue building.

The residents celebrated the news by cheering, applauding and holding up “I ♥ Sunset Park” signs. 

Through the Section 8 program, tenants pay roughly 30 percent of their adjusted monthly income, with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development covering the rest of the rent.

The Section 8 contract renewal applies to roughly 360 units throughout Sunset Park, advocates said.

But tenants had hoped for a longer renewal period than the five years agreed to in the contract.

“Our fear is in another five years we’re going to have to jump through all these hoops again," said Marcela Mitaynes, a program coordinator at Neighbors Helping Neighbors, a housing advocacy group.

Luis Arocho, 61, a tenant organizer who has lived in a Section 8 building for 14 years, described his months of advocacy work as a “long struggle.”

“I was looking forward to at least getting 10 or 20 years. But I’m grateful for five years,” he said. “At least it’s a start.”

Many of the buildings still require repairs and renovations that tenants have been requesting for years. Those include cracked tiles, mold and infestation, broken appliances and holes in walls, Mitaynes said.

“We have to make sure appropriate modernizations and repairs take place in the buildings,” Velazquez said.

E&M Associates did not respond to request for comment.