While hundreds of thousands of low income families are desperately trying to find adequate public housing, as many as 25,226 families with incomes that exceed the limits for assistance are living in federally subsidized apartments across the country.
In one extreme example, the New York City Housing Authority has allowed a family of four to live in a subsidized apartment since 1988 even though the family’s income has grown to a startling $497,911 a year.
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Meanwhile, a five-member household that has resided in a Los Angeles housing authority project since 1974 currently boasts an annual income of $204,784. Similarly, a three-person household that has lived in a New Bedford, Mass., housing authority apartment since 2003 currently draws an annual income of $212,845.
On the face of it, this would appear to be a massive rip-off of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which subsidizes state and local public housing authorities. Roughly 1.1 million families receive public housing assistance through 3,300 public housing authorities.
The housing is meant for poor or low income families with incomes of between 50 percent and 80 percent of the median income of the metropolitan area. In Los Angeles, for example, the income threshold for a family of five is $70,450 a year, while in New York City it is $67,100.
However, according to a new HUD inspector general’s report, public housing authorities provide housing assistance to as many as 25,226 families whose income exceeded HUD’s 2014 eligibility income limits – sometimes by large amounts. Nearly 18,000 of those families had incomes that exceeded the qualifying levels for more than a year.
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This year, HUD – which has been criticized in the past for its mishandling of funds – will spend $104.4 million in the coming year subsidizing so-called “over-income” families.
In the case of the New York family with an annual income of just under $500,000, they were being provided with publicly subsidized housing while more than 300,000 low income families waited on lengthy waiting lists, according to the study.
HUD officials have no plans to oust these better-off families from their housing projects, mainly because the department’s policy doesn’t require over-income tenants to leave. In fact, inspectors learned, many housing authorities encourage wealthier tenants to stay in public housing, in part because it helps to stabilize and diversify the tenant population.
Under federal rules, families only have to meet the income eligibility requirements upon admission to a public housing project, according to the report. There is no limit to the length of time that families can remain public housing – regardless of changes in their income status – provided that they follow the rules.
