Subsidized Housing is becoming Extinct in New York City

With gentrification spreading into low-income areas, many landlords in struggling neighborhoods of New York City, who once welcomed tenants with federal rent subsidy vouchers, are now turning them away, according to some housing activists and real estate agents.

Section 8 vouchers have long been a pillar of rent support for needy families, serving about 270,000 residents in the city. And for decades the program has virtually guaranteed landlords a steady source of rent and a modest profit.

But now, apartment listings routinely exclude voucher holders, marking a significant shift in the way many landlords have come to view the program. Many property owners and real estate agents say the program is overly cumbersome, and in a hot rental market, they say, there is no need to take on a Section 8 tenant.

Could the National Urban League possibly help some of these people?

The National Urban League's Economic Empowerment agenda reaches out to people of all ages and financial levels, helping them better their current situation and build for the future. While personal goals can often seem out of reach - whether it's getting a good job, buying a house, starting a business or being financially secure - Urban League affiliate counselors can lay out the steps to help make them a reality.

The National Urban League (NUL), formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest community-based organization of its kind in the nation.

The Committee on Urban Conditions Among Negroes was founded in New York City on September 29, 1910 by Ruth Standish Baldwin and Dr. George Edmund Haynes, among others. It merged with the Committee for the Improvement of Industrial Conditions Among Negroes in New York (founded in New York in 1906) and the National League for the Protection of Colored Women (founded in 1905), and was renamed the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes.

NUL grew out of that spontaneous grassroots movement for freedom and opportunity that came to be called the Black Migrations.

In 2003, Marc Morial was appointed the league's eighth President and Chief Executive Officer. Since his appointment to the National Urban League, Morial has worked to reenergize the movement's diverse constituencies by building on the strengths of the NUL's 95 year old legacy and increasing the organization's profile both locally and nationally.

Today, there are over 100 local affiliates of the National Urban League located in 35 states and the District of Columbia.