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Raymond your attempt to clarify made things much worse for me.
-It's funny how you believe that she's nearing retirement, so why bother..there are no job opportunities for her. In NYC no less. I wonder what all those people over the age of 60 are really doing when they say they are going to work. I am sure they are just sitting in parks all day! Something tells me this family has been using one excuse after another for the past 40 years..."I can't work I am in school", "I have a college degree but it's useless", "I am nearing retirement so there's no jobs for me." See a theme here. I do..it's called the section 8 lifestyle and you learned it well from your mother.
-If the market for your apt is $2,000 a month, it only means you can't afford to live there. I am not sure why you believe you deserve to live there?? I cannot afford a brand new $75,000 mercedes, even if I could 10 years ago, I cannot afford it now. Does this mean I should have the government pay for it for me? Instead I drive a beat-up ford, because that's what I can afford. The end. There is something fundamentally wrong here when your rent should be $2,000 a month, section 8 pays 50%, and you can barely scrape by paying the difference. The idea that your mother is college educated and you AND her combined income does not equal $2,000 a month means she never bothered doing anything with he degree and still earns a minimum wage job. And why bother anyway...you would lose the section 8!
-Regarding the other families who do nothing and have done nothing, I am unclear how you are any different? You claim your mother made a mistake wasting time with a sociology degree, then you turn around and pursue a degree in Media studies/film? Really? Am I supposed to feel sorry for you because without section 8 you would have to leave Manhattan? Yes that is truly a sacrifice, and clearly it would be far too much of a burden. I mean imagine someone having to leave Manhattan and move to somewhere they could afford...like the outerboroughs? I mean...what kind of peasant would do such a thing? It would make life unbearable indeed.
It is this sort of ridiculous mentality that I would A: Never rent to a section 8 tenant, and B: Believe we need to overhaul this system. If you are 30 years on section 8, there is a problem. If you go to college and still work at your minimum wage job expecting section 8 to make up the difference, there is a problem. If you believe you are entitled to live in Manhattan in a 3 bedroom and section 8 should pay for it, and it would be too much of a burden for you to move somewhere in the city more affordable, there is a BIG Problem.
I'm not exactly sure how this went from a simple comment, just something off of my train of thought, to a personal attack and a highlighted example of what's wrong with S8 and it's recipients, but you're bordering on being offensive and I'm not having that. I would've welcomed some constructive criticism, because I'm the first to admit that I'm far from educated about a lot of things regarding living in the city (as is my mother, even after living in the city all these years......does that make her any less of a person too? ). Living outside of Manhattan, where it's more affordable (though Upper Manhattan used to be just as affordable up until the last decade)? Never did occur to me, but it's something that I'll keep in mind. But keep your personal assumptions and your hardlining to yourself.
Raymond your attempt to clarify made things much worse for me.
-It's funny how you believe that she's nearing retirement, so why bother..there are no job opportunities for her. In NYC no less. I wonder what all those people over the age of 60 are really doing when they say they are going to work. I am sure they are just sitting in parks all day! Something tells me this family has been using one excuse after another for the past 40 years..."I can't work I am in school", "I have a college degree but it's useless", "I am nearing retirement so there's no jobs for me." See a theme here. I do..it's called the section 8 lifestyle and you learned it well from your mother.
-If the market for your apt is $2,000 a month, it only means you can't afford to live there. I am not sure why you believe you deserve to live there?? I cannot afford a brand new $75,000 mercedes, even if I could 10 years ago, I cannot afford it now. Does this mean I should have the government pay for it for me? Instead I drive a beat-up ford, because that's what I can afford. The end. There is something fundamentally wrong here when your rent should be $2,000 a month, section 8 pays 50%, and you can barely scrape by paying the difference. The idea that your mother is college educated and you AND her combined income does not equal $2,000 a month means she never bothered doing anything with he degree and still earns a minimum wage job. And why bother anyway...you would lose the section 8!
-Regarding the other families who do nothing and have done nothing, I am unclear how you are any different? You claim your mother made a mistake wasting time with a sociology degree, then you turn around and pursue a degree in Media studies/film? Really? Am I supposed to feel sorry for you because without section 8 you would have to leave Manhattan? Yes that is truly a sacrifice, and clearly it would be far too much of a burden. I mean imagine someone having to leave Manhattan and move to somewhere they could afford...like the outerboroughs? I mean...what kind of peasant would do such a thing? It would make life unbearable indeed.
It is this sort of ridiculous mentality that I would A: Never rent to a section 8 tenant, and B: Believe we need to overhaul this system. If you are 30 years on section 8, there is a problem. If you go to college and still work at your minimum wage job expecting section 8 to make up the difference, there is a problem. If you believe you are entitled to live in Manhattan in a 3 bedroom and section 8 should pay for it, and it would be too much of a burden for you to move somewhere in the city more affordable, there is a BIG Problem.
Well,since you put it that way............ I have to agree completely.
I have read many posts about section 8 and I have to say I agree with coca and sobro.
no I am not playing. I feel their displeasure and I relate.
I am on section 8 and I would like to say Section 8 has become a lifestyle to many (DAM SHAME) its there to help you until things get better (better :meaning you do what you have to do to get off the system) not wait till the government doesn't have anymore money to pay for your apt. I appreciate the help but then again its not all what its cracked up to be. I personally am on my way off of section 8 after 3 years.( Yayy Im not on welfare )some of The Landlords receiving section 8 are just as BAD and SNEAKY as those(not all) Section 8 -welfare Tenants. The system is all screwed up.
My jail time living in a Section 8 apartment is the worse. The tenants I live under party all day all night. they don't give a flying fig if you work and you need sleep. The Landlord doesn't care what you have to say or how many people is living illegally in a two bedroom apt as long as he is getting his money. The Section 8 workers are just like the tenants GHETTO. They don't care either.
I will be buying a house and I swear I will not not not rent to section 8. I have seen so much corruption its Horrible. I can say not all section 8 tenants are Bad. but good tenants are far and few.....( I being one) I am sure the money you get from section 8 is great to many landlords but the majority of that money is used up in fixing what they have done to your home. or better yet in the courts getting them out. Most section 8 tenants feel their rent is being paid they can do whatever they feel.
I just had to put in my 2 cents in
Sucks that the genuinely good Section 8 tenants, such as myself and my mother, have to suffer due to the overall reputation of the program and it's recipients. My mother's been receiving Section 8 assistance for almost 30 years now, and in that time she's been able to complete her undergrad at CUNY Hostos and City, single-handedly raise me and my older brother, see my brother off to a successful career in the Marines. Because of S8, I'm more than halfway through completing my undergrad as well, without the stress of high rent looming over me (something that's stunted the college careers of many my age, and I don't blame them). Proud to say that my family has made good use of the program, yet we each haven't gone far enough to keep our heads above water with the non-S8 rent in most of the city........hopefully that'll change with me.
Thanks for this post. I am young and probably dont know as much about thid as you older folks. But why the hostility towards people on sec. 8? My mother is one and she isn't a bad, messy, or ghetto woman at all. Just because your broke doesnt always mean your a bad person. I live in what people would assume is a nice neighborhood in San Francisco. My nieghbors include college student of the nearby university whos parents are obviously loaded because this building isnt cheap and white collar people/families. We moved in 10 years ago. 5 years ago they stopped accepting sec. 8. There are constantly broken beer bottles and loud noises outside. Students coming home throwing up in the elevator and stairwells. And car windows get broken, mine was, on a regular basis. 20 parked cars in a row were vandalized. These "nice" college kids are the worst neighbors a person could ask for. And I bet they arent on sec. 8. So please stop making it seem like because you or your family provides money to live in nice housing un-aided means you are a better person or neighbor because that isnt the case at all.
I will further add that my mom is the age of most peoples grandmother, retiring age, I dont know how sec. 8 works or benefits younger people as none of my siblings nor I have or plan to get sec. 8 assistance.
I agree goodlife. There is no such thing as a bad neighborhood. It's the people who make it bad. But who picks the tenants? LANDLORDS and/or PROPERTY MANAGERS. Ultimately they are the culprits as they have the final say on who they accept as tenants.
One thing I'd like to point out is that the majority of the phone calls or emails a Bronx landlord gets from his craigslist ads are from people on Section 8 or other types of programs like Work Advantage (shelter people) and the HASA program (people with AIDS).
We have some landlords on this board and I'm sure they can confirm this. The best thing to do in this case is to ignore/delete their emails and voice messages. If you happen to pick up the phone and its a person asking if you take programs, tell them YES (so you don't get in trouble) then ask them to give you a contact number where they can be reached and pretend as if you're writing it down and tell them you'll call them back (which you never will).
It's important to know that if a Bronx landlord refuses to rent to program people and wants solely working people as tenants, chances are it may take them longer, like a couple of months or more to rent the apartment simply because it's slim pickings. Low income people in the Bronx out number regular working people. It's a much smaller pool of people to pick from. The idea is to stay true to your beliefs and NOT give in to the temptation of renting to a Section 8 tenant even if they throw money in your face to entice you.
Seriously you would purposefully not rent to a person who has aids? Wow
Shiloo I know there are problems on both sides of the section 8 fence, actually all 3 sides: tenants, landlords, and the system itself. Alot of landlords are in it just for the money, and when you portray that to tenants, why should they care about anything either...and then there are the section 8 case workers, many of whom are either on section 8 or graduated from section 8 to being a caseworker.
The whole system needs an overhaul, and I was hoping Bloomberg was the Mayor to do it. I was wrong. And the reality is, the next Mayor will likely be an incompetent, vote pandering, do-nothing Democrat who will make things worse, not better.
I have read many posts about section 8 and I have to say I agree with coca and sobro.
no I am not playing. I feel their displeasure and I relate.
I am on section 8 and I would like to say Section 8 has become a lifestyle to many (DAM SHAME) its there to help you until things get better (better :meaning you do what you have to do to get off the system) not wait till the government doesn't have anymore money to pay for your apt. I appreciate the help but then again its not all what its cracked up to be. I personally am on my way off of section 8 after 3 years.( Yayy Im not on welfare )some of The Landlords receiving section 8 are just as BAD and SNEAKY as those(not all) Section 8 -welfare Tenants. The system is all screwed up.
My jail time living in a Section 8 apartment is the worse. The tenants I live under party all day all night. they don't give a flying fig if you work and you need sleep. The Landlord doesn't care what you have to say or how many people is living illegally in a two bedroom apt as long as he is getting his money. The Section 8 workers are just like the tenants GHETTO. They don't care either.
I will be buying a house and I swear I will not not not rent to section 8. I have seen so much corruption its Horrible. I can say not all section 8 tenants are Bad. but good tenants are far and few.....( I being one) I am sure the money you get from section 8 is great to many landlords but the majority of that money is used up in fixing what they have done to your home. or better yet in the courts getting them out. Most section 8 tenants feel their rent is being paid they can do whatever they feel.
I just had to put in my 2 cents in
Congrats in using the system the way it was supposed to be used, TEMPORARILY, and realizing it's not worth the hassel.
Yes the employees in the program are very ghetto and well as can be very disrespectful when you need to speak to them. I guess that comes from the disrespectul and ghetto tenants they have to deal with on daily basis so they treat everyone the same.
When I had to visit one of them I went dressed for work so that they saw I wasn't like all the rest and when I spoke I was polite and it changed their demeanor and attitude with me.
Landlords, yes some of them are taking advantage of the system also and Section 8 is letting them get away with it.
The whole program needs to be overhauled as one of the poster said. As I said before there are some great Section 8 tenants out there but as you said they are far than few and are getting a bad rap because of the majority of those that are taking advantage of the system.
I was thankful of the time I was on the program, it helped me get on my feet but I'm glad I'm off don't have to depend on a program to make sure my rent is paid.
Most people need to stop taking the lazy way out and struggle. The rent assistance program(s) that exists today makes it too easy for people to squander.
I guess this is why NYC finally decided to stop the program all together.
Again congratulations on your purchase, you are one of the prime examples on how the program was designed to work.
Shiloo I know there are problems on both sides of the section 8 fence, actually all 3 sides: tenants, landlords, and the system itself. Alot of landlords are in it just for the money, and when you portray that to tenants, why should they care about anything either...and then there are the section 8 case workers, many of whom are either on section 8 or graduated from section 8 to being a caseworker.
The whole system needs an overhaul, and I was hoping Bloomberg was the Mayor to do it. I was wrong. And the reality is, the next Mayor will likely be an incompetent, vote pandering, do-knothing Democrat who will make things worse, not better.
Actually Section 8 isn't a city funded program, the government funds it. That's how a person on the program and relocate to another city with they voucher that is given.
In NYC the program has been closed and only available to domestic violence cases. Only those that have been on the program and have found an apartment before the deadline are still on the program. No new vouchers are being honored.
Now everyone else is being put on "HOME BASE" with is another program thats far worst than section 8.
Hmm..Home Base. Do you have any information on this new program? I am not familiar with it.
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I would've welcomed some constructive criticism, because I'm the first to admit that I'm far from educated about a lot of things regarding living in the city (as is my mother, even after living in the city all these years......does that make her any less of a person too? 
). Living outside of Manhattan, where it's more affordable (though Upper Manhattan used to be just as affordable up until the last decade)? Never did occur to me, but it's something that I'll keep in mind. But keep your personal assumptions and your hardlining to yourself.
