One percenters are living in public housing

I don’t know why this story is making the news (saw it on Fox) 10 months after it was published, but many very wealthy people are living in public housing at a much reduced rate—paid for by local and federal taxes. Some living in LA and NYC have incomes as high as $500,000.

“Of these 25,226 families [in public housing], 17,761 had earned more than the qualifying amount for more than 1 year. HUD regulations require families to meet eligibility income limits only when they are admitted to the public housing program." 

Well, gosh, in 1990, we earned more than we did in 1960, too. In fact, we’d paid off the mortgage on two homes. I wonder why this was never taken into consideration?

https://www.hudoig.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2015-PH-0002.pdf

"Case 1 – New York City Housing Authority, New York, NY – The Authority admitted the family to the program in November 1988, and it had been overincome since at least 2009. As of November 2013, the four-person household’s annual income was $497,911, while the low-income threshold was $67,100. Three members of the household earned income. The member with the highest income earned $275,757.In addition, the head of the household owned real estate that produced $790,534 in rental income between 2009 and 2013. As of July 2014, the family paid an income-based ceiling rent of $1,574 monthly for its public housing unit. According to the Authority, it did not evict this family from its 3-bedroom unit because its policy does not require it to terminate the tenancy or evict families solely because they are overincome. The Authority believes that allowing overincome families to reside in public housing is beneficial because it shows that participation in the public housing program can help families achieve a more stable life and the average rent paid by overincome families is greater than that paid by other low income families."