section 8

The waitlist is a glimmer of hope for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who need rent help, but most will likely have to wait years to get the aid.

NYCHA aims to randomly select 200,000 applicants to put on the Section 8 waitlist after Aug. 1.

In one call recorded last April, an investigator inquiring about a Cobble Hill studio apartment was informed by a representative of Compass: "No we don't do Section 8 Vouchers in this building."

Tenants facing housing discrimination for paying rent with a voucher have a new reprieve.

The program will allow private developers to use Section 8 funding to make desperately-needed repairs to public housing stock while being able to tap into private financing to fund it.

"With so much uncertainty from Washington, the debate on whether or not to build on public housing land as a revenue source should be over."

"The neediest residents will not have realistic alternatives, and will be faced with having either to pay more rent out of their own pocket or leaving the city altogether."

"These are people who are poor, but they're not beaten down. They're savvy."

And the city is doing very little about it, despite a law banning such discrimination.

Thanks to nationwide funding announced yesterday by the U.S. Department of